Dragon Racers
by SolidBabe
Summary: Jay was a bullied kid. He moves to Ninjago city and meets both new friends, new enemies that want to kill him, a girl he has an instant crush on, and one he's pretty afraid of. But he's not the only one with big problems. His seemingly perfect friends might not be as happy as they act. Why does life suck? It's a roller coaster of problems, and they all have to take the plunge.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N) I am really a terrible person aren't I. Eh, I'm not sure really, maybe you guys are excited for another story or... maybe you guys will get frustrated, I don't know. But this idea just wouldn't quit nagging my muse.**

 **So... yah, here I started it. Your welcome, or, sorry. Which ever you pick. Just to make things clear, if you are the guys that have been reading my first Ninjago story 'The Silver Line' then don't worry I will finish it. I have the ending planned and everything.**

 **For those new to me and my writing, welcome to this story. I also plan to finish this one.**

 **Yay! And just a heads up, this is a complete AU, totally out there.**

 **And yes, it's a high school themed one. BUT! Before you groan in detest, I just want to let you know, I am going to make this as un-cliché a high school story as possible. I'll even take crazy ideas from you guys. I mean come on! This is the ninja we're talking about! Even without mystic weapons and such, they are still nuts! That's why we love em'. So yah, I hope this turns out original and as far away as from cliché as possible.**

 **I hope you'll all stick around. Now, without further adieu, let's have FUN!**

* * *

 **Prologue: Just a Piece of Them**

It was normal.

The black eye? Normal. The ripped shirt? Normal. The bruises and cuts? Totally normal. The fact that he was heading towards another day in a hellhole? Yep. That was completely normal. Jay Walker Walked down the hall way of this hell, or otherwise known as his high school. He hated Ninjago High, ever since he started attending from last year. He was labeled as a loser, a nobody, a waste of time and space... he lived in a freakin' junkyard for crying out loud! When people found THAT out... his life was officially dubbed: screwed.

The bullies, the mocking, the teasing. It was all normal. Still, He tried to make the best of it. He didn't know why, but he wanted to finish. He wanted to complete his education despite the hurting and loneliness. He wanted to finish this fight and laugh at them when he had won. He had dreams, and no matter what they tried to do to him, he was going to reach them, and with a smile at that, even if his black eye hurt as heck. Even if he had to lie to his parents about why another new jersey was ripped. Even if he had to wear long clothes until his cuts and bruises healed.

Because they can hurt him physically, but inside, he had an armored of solid gold and they couldn't break him if they didn't break that.

Another year was about to start. He was a sophomore now. This was going to be worse then last year. That he knew.

A spit wad hit his forehead. A small pebble got him in the back of his head. Taunts, laughers. 'Junk yard' Jokes.

He smiled.

That was his greatest weapon.

Jay Walker was ready and armed to take on the rest of this year. In a solitary armor that protected only him.

* * *

Sweat, cold, and at the same time burning. It streamed down his face, making his hair stick on his forehead and neck. He gripped the reins tighter, dust and dirt stung and stuck to his face. Roars from a hundred people filled his ears. Wind snapped his shirt. He gripped the reins tighter, his silver eyes narrowing, calculating the ending line. He gritted his teeth, leathery wings flapped on either side of him. Almost. . . There . . .

WHOOSH!

His dragon flashed over the checkered line. A roar of excitement took over the arena, people jumped and cheered, whooped and hollered.

He slid off his dragon, shooting his fists in the air as the announcer blasted over the mic:

"Winnneeeeer Cole Hunter!"

A chant of his name rose up as his team swarmed him and lifted him onto their shoulders.

His heart pounded, his dragon clawed the ground in its happy way as the people carried him away, his victory grin plastered on his face. This. this was what he looked forward to every year in this school. It made him somebody he wanted to be... he was almost completely happy.

But how is it that happiness can sometimes be only skin deep... despite all his achievements and popularity, something in Cole's life was missing, it had always been missing. But lately with every victory, and every passing year, that missing space grew bigger. To the point where he wasn't even sure if he was ever really happy.

This was his last year here. What he wanted more then anything was to fill that space, but it somehow seemed really impossible as the year started... Even if he did start it with another victory.

* * *

He didn't care. His father was angry at him. His sister always sad because of him. His life was just stupid. But he chose that way. he had chosen to be a rebel, to go against anyone that tried to tell him what to do. He was known as the tough guy of this school, he didn't even know why he still went to this school.

Kai Burner was the hot headed, hottie of the school. Maybe that was it, he had a really high reputation at this dump. People thought he was cool, some feared him, others practically died wanting to be in his group. All, even teachers knew better then to mess with him.

He had the fire inside to take anyone he wanted down. And maybe, just maybe, even though this place was filled with losers, it was still pretty fun. The way they cowered or kissed up to him. He had the power of the greatest monarch. If he was a king, he'd have ruled with an iron fist.

Unfortunately, this ability had gotten to his head and had made him forget.

He has forgotten the important things in life. If he doesn't remember them soon. . . He would be a monster for the rest of his life.

* * *

Calm and collected.

That was how they characterized him all his life. From the way he talked, to the way he walked. Everything and everyday was done and taken in simple calculated perfection. Some people would consider him a computer nerd. But he wasn't. He was one of the scarce people that came to this school that were labeled as ' uncategorized'. Because, he was brilliant. Not just brilliant, brilliant. But brilliant genius brilliant. Grades were perfect. GPA higher then highest. knowledge unparalleled at his age group.

But then he was also a calculated athlete. One of the best. Fast, strong, swift and accurate. His looks came in the top 5, he had a highly respected family, and he even went to the mayor of Ninjagos' house for all the expensive balls.

Zane Julian was perhaps one of the most flabbergasting character in the entire school. . . Scratch that, the entire city, probably even the world.

But still, even with all his amazing glory. Zane was far from completely perfect. It seemed just the opposite to outsiders but those few that knew him knew, Zane was oddly imperfect. And for some reason his closest people couldn't figure out why.

Zane wasn't even sure why. Not yet anyway.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N) Here's' the first real chapter. I decided to crank it out to actually start the story. And don't worry if this seems boring, I will keep my promise to make it as out of the ordinary as my brain can come up with. I hope it's fun enough for you guys.**

 **Have fun!**

* * *

It couldn't be any worse then what he'd already been through in his other school. His parents had decided to send him to a further school tin hopes of a higher opportunity. it really was unexpected seeing as he had already started tenth grade for a month now. Maybe he wouldn't be beat up in this school. And even if he was, he could handle it. After all, this was one year closer to the end of high school. He was positive his weapon could carry him all the way through.

He took a deep breath through his nose, tightened his grip on his backpack strap and started up the brick steps.

Come on Jay, just keep smiling.

He entered the huge building and stopped. Inside was... CRAZY! Jay gasped, outside looked like a normal domed, brick building. But inside was a whole different story.

The lockers were multiple colors, all pinned up on the walls. The floor was a shimmering red hardwood floor. The walls a sparkly white and yellow. Books were floating everywhere, somewhere a puff of colored smoke exploded, students wore a uniform that didn't seem so uniform-y(he hadn't gotten his yet) that looked awesome anyway, the doors opened by themselves, the lights were a weird green and white glow that turned on and off by themselves. The soda machines rolled around on their own. Someone was wearing a sorcerers robe, someone else was carrying a couple of spotted colorful eggs.

A janitors sauntered by, his mop following behind him, his bucket thumping after. Jay grinned, his head swiveling almost all the way around, taking in all the weirdness, and technology at the same time.

He looked at the passing students uniforms again, more closely, to see if he could pull it off.

The girls wore skirts that swished right above their knees. Each girl had a different color, he skirts sparkled lightly, but the over all designed was the same. Each one personalized to fit them at the same time, it was a pressed kind of style, where it looked small but really twirly. They all had on a white quarter sleeve shirt that buttoned down. And each one wore a vest again the same designs but different colors, each personalized to the girl. Some had on boots, others sneaker, or flats. They all had their hair up different but each had a pin with the school logo on it.

A dragons head the color of gold with one white crystal for the eye.

It was, after all, called Dragon High. He smiled to himself again as he looked at the boys clothes. Pants of any color or style, as long as they weren't jeans he figured. A white buttoned shirt, with vests like the girls only more guy like, all in different colors and a matching tie. All wore the logo pin. Jay was so busy thinking about how good he'd look in a tie that he didn't watch where he was going until he smacked right into a medium sized boy with ridiculously styled auburn hair. Jay stepped back, slightly worried.

"Um, hey sorry dude I - " He was rudely cut off as the boy grabbed him by his tee and lifted him up.

"Who are you?" The boy snapped, his eyes narrowing, as people stopped to watch what was going on.

Jay stuttered, "Um.. J-Jay. Jay Walker." Horrible flash backs of last year suddenly immobilizing him.

The boy sneered, "Newbie. And a dweeb at that." He shoved Jay roughly into the high lockers. "Stay out of my way or else." He hissed and began to walk away.

Jay straightened, "Sorry. Sheesh, can't I catch a break from numb skulls." His eyes widened in horror as he realized what his stupid mouth just said. Out loud! Two seconds later he was pinned to the wall by the neck, struggling like a cornered rat. The reddish haired boys face burning fury, man... he was actually scary!

"Wanna say that to my face runt?" He spat as more teens gathered around with choruses of:

'He is so dead'

'Is he new?'

'Yah, that's why he's dead.'

'Poor guy, somebody should have warned him.'

'He's stupid, shoulda kept his mouth shut.'

Jay totally agreed with the last guy.

Just as he was about to receive his first black eye in this school, the fist was stopped by a loud:

"Cut it out Burner!"

Everyone froze and turned, even the bully, "Make me Cole."

They all backed away to reveal a tall, muscled boy with shaggy black hair. His face was set and firm. He had silver eyes that were currently narrowed at the bully boy.

"I don't have to. But I bet principal Wu would love to see this performance." He raised a thick brow at the bully.

Slowly Jay's feet touched the ground, the grip around his neck loosened, then he was shoved onto the floor.

"Next time dweeb, keep your mouth shut." He hissed and walked away from Jay. Leaving him with his head down to hide his embarrassment, the crowd dispersed right after that. All except Cole.

He walked over to Jay and helped him up. "Hey kid, you ok?" He asked as Jay took his outstretched hand.

Jay nodded, "Thanks, who was that guy?"

Cole shrugged,"Kai Burner, school tough guy. Frankly I call him a jerk, but everyone else thinks he's to cool to resist, and scary." A twinkle in his eye caught Jay off guard, "He hates me though, knows I don't care. Stronger then him too. So, what's your name?"

Jay smiled now, "Jay, I'm new and I guess I've been labeled as a loser here too." He let out a heart hurt sigh, "And I was so hoping it would be different here."

Cole patted his shoulder, "Naw, not here. We don't really label that fast. Most kids here are pretty ok, aside from Kai and his likes. I'm Cole, I'm probably the only guy with more groupies then Kai and Zane."

"Who's Zane?"

"Oh, you'll meet him soon enough, he's a chill dude, you'll like him. Most people do." Cole started down the bright hall, "Come on, we'll be late."

Jay shuffled to catch up, hey this Cole guy seemed ok. Maybe... he could have friends here! That idea never even crossed his mind. Guess he doomed himself to loneliness forever in his own mind... Cool! A friend! He picked up the pace. Maybe he didn't have to wear his armor here after all.

A spit wad hit his ear, he turned to see from where it came from.

Kai was glaring at him, daggers tipped with fire.

Jay gulped, then again... maybe he did.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N) Hey dudes! I felt like another chapter today, man I am on a roll! Hope you like this. I am getting more comfortable with average life style writing now. Of course the character's I'm using make writing about normal life really hard... part of the fun I guess. So we meet a few more characters in this chappie. Jay has a freak out and a really hard 'life sucks' moment.**_

 _ **Plus a bunch of other fun stuff. I had fun writing this one.**_

 _ **Dig in!**_

* * *

It had started off as a great day.

She was all smiles and couldn't wait to catch up with her brother at lunch to rub it in and tell him that being a jerk wouldn't get him anywhere this school year.

"Hey Pixal!" The dark haired girl waved, calling to a platinum blond girl in a grey tee.

The girl turned revealing a sharp face with striking green eyes, "Hello Nya. How was your first class."

Nya was all smiles, "Great! I think this year will go even better then last. I heard there were some new kids. Bet we could find them and make friends."

Pixal smiled back. She wasn't much of a talker, more like the quiet, calculating, logical type. She and Nya got along pretty well especially since Nya was almost as good at her in science and engineering. Both bonded over interests and it was pretty impressive that the short black haired girl was a year younger and had skipped into high school.

"Come on, we'll be late for our next class. Biology!" Nya said excitedly.

* * *

Jay looked back and forth, checking to see if anyone was there. He poked his head around the corner of each hall. Ok, so maybe he was being a bit paranoid but still! He really didn't want to get beaten up today.

"Chill out kid." Cole sauntered by, snatching him by the back of Jay's blue vest and dragged him effortlessly into the lunch room.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Le'go!" Jay whined as Cole sat him on a bench.

"Here, don't worry, Kai's a lot of things but he's not stupid enough to beat you up in front of lunch attendants. Get some cake or something and dig in." Cole assured in his simple way, "Relax ok."

Jay gulped, "Ok, fine. I'm not scared. . . just worried." He clasped his hands together and walked up to the lunch line, ignoring the whispers about him being the new kid that nearly lost his head in the first ten minutes of school. Even if that was true.

He was so nervous he didn't pay attention to where he was going... again.

BAM!

A squeak and a crash! Jay's blue eyes widened.

"Oh my god! So sorry, I.. um, you ok?" Jay rushed forward to try and help the girl he'd just absently knocked down back up. He grimaced as her salad fell off her nice pink shirt. He flustered and blathered out apologies trying to smooth things over. This was so not his day.

"Oh, it's ok I-"

He pulled her up. Both froze as their eyes clicked to each other.

"Whoa." Jay lost his breath for a second as he stared into a soft angel face with soft brown eyes and soft pink lips and-

"Um, you can let me go now."

Jay gapped and dropped her hand, "S-sorry." He stuttered, pink dusting his cheeks.

The girl giggled in what Jay thought was an adorable way, "S'ok, hi, I'm Nya. You?"

"J-Jay..." He looked slightly scared Nya noticed.

"Oh it's a nice name, I like your vest color." She smiled assuring.

Jay Looked down, "Oh yah, blue's my favorite color."

"Hey, mine too!" Nya laughed, "Wanna eat lunch with us?"

Jay looked over at Cole, a strange blond guy just joined him, looked more Cole's age, he'd be ok.

"Sure."

"Cool, come on!"

He followed her with pleasure.

* * *

Kai walked or stomped into the cafeteria. He hated this place, always so crowded and noisy. He'd rather be punching bags in the gym.

But, food sometimes was required.

"Hey Kai!"

Kai turned his spikey haired head around and saw a short boy with a shock of red hair, "What Coll?" He growled.

The boy was a grade under and used to be scared of Kai until Kai figured the little rat was useful for info. He could hide and sneak out any kind of information Kai wanted.

"Check it out. Somebody's with your sister and I don't think you'll like who it is." The kid grinned impishly.

Kai's eyes narrowed as he scanned the lunch room for his smart little bratty sister. There.

His eyes widened, "That little worm." He hissed as he saw Jay make eyes at her and she laughed. "Oh no, this guy is SO finished!"

* * *

"-Yah and then the milk squirted out of my nose!" Jay burst out making Nya crack up, even Pixal broke a smile.

"And then-" A shadow fell across the table from behind the brunet. Nya's eyes widened as she turned, Jay gulped. Pixal frowned and rolled her eyes.

"Hey punk. Care to tell me why your talking to MY sister." Kai's face was murderous.

Jay turned and backed up into his cake, "I um, your... what!" He shifted his gaze at Nya who stared at her brother with a stone set face. He gapped, his brain froze, what was he supposed to say to that?!

"Kai, back off, I can make friends with whoever I want to." Nya snapped at her brother.

Kia glared, "Yah, unless it's him." He pointed a figure at Jay, who felt considerably smaller.

"Forget it Kai, just go bug with your own friends." Her pretty face was scrunched up in annoyance.

After a thick minute, that Jay swore he was going to drown in, Kai did. He backed off. But the look he gave Jay meant that he was dead meat when he got him alone.

Jay gulped again. Great.

"Ugh, sorry 'bout that, my brother can be a little over jerky sometimes." Nya smiled brightly at him.

"Uh, yah, just a little." He chuckled dryly.

The bell rang saving him from saying something stupid.

"Whoops, gotta go." Nya stood up, Pixal followed. Jay surmised she wasn't too talkative.

"Bye Jay, nice to meet you and welcome to Dragon High." She glittered to him and left.

Jay stared after her. She was so pretty and bright. . . he sighed dreamily, then his flying thoughts crashed and burst into flames. But she was the younger sister of the biggest jerk in this school. . . man, couldn't he ever catch a break?

"Hey shorty!"

He turned to see Cole calling him over.

"Um, yah?"

"Come on kid, let's go, or we'll be late for Biology, well you will anyway." Cole smiled lightly at him.

Jay smiled back, "Hey Cole? Um, if your so popular here. . . why hang out with me?"

Cole shrugged his broad shoulders, "Dunno, probably cuz you seem kinda lost and need some help." He chuckled.

Jay frowned, "You make me sound like a puppy." He pouted.

Cole ruffled his hair, "Stop looking like one and I may start to consider you as an actual dude."

"Hey!" Jay faked annoyance as they both shuffled down the hall.

He forgot about Kai for the time being.

* * *

"You do WHAT after school?" Jay asked not believing his ears as he watched the older boy slip into some kind of leather vest.

"I dragon race. It's sort of what this schools famous for." Cole strapped on some black boots with some weird spur looking things except they looked more like mini knives strapped to his calves.

"What you've never heard of dragon racing before? Cole raise a thick brow at the younger brunet.

Jay shook his head, "Not where I come from. . . those things still fly?"

Cole laughed out loud this time, "Come on kid, prepare to freak." He pulled on a set of thick gloves, the palms looked like they were lined with some kind of scaly skin.

Jay gulped, he wasn't sure why he was here, maybe because he was afraid to go home by himself or maybe cuz he was genuinely interested. _How the heck do you ride a dragon?!_

"Come on, quite gawking." Coles rough voice cut off his thoughts.

He blinked an followed after, really not sure what the heck he was about to see.

WHOOOSH!

"AHAHA! DUCK AND COVER!" Jay let out an unbelievably girl shriek and jumped underneath the nearest green bench.

Cole stared at the shaking boy for a full minute. He chuckled and shook his head, maybe taking such a timid newbie here was a bad idea.

"Jay, calm down. It's not going to bit." He yanked the blue clad boy up to his feet with one arm.

"But-but. . . dragons. . . so big!" Jay quivered horrified as he watched two dragons wiz and swooped in the air.

"Come on chicken boy. Cool out, they aren't going to eat you." Cole rolled his silver eyes at Jay before sitting him on the bench, "Don't move, I'll be right back." He instructed before disappearing into a huge wooden barn looking building.

The blue eyed boy sat stick straight, his eyes not moving from the speeding dragons. Slowly his body relaxed as he became entranced by the flying beasts.

"Wow. . ."

He couldn't imagine how awesome it must feel to be flying so high and so fast. The dragons rolled in the air and soared above the clouds, breaking through with puffs of smoke. He found himself smiling, vaguely wondering if he could do that.

"Ok, don't freak out." Coles voice reached his brain. He turned and gasped nearly falling off the bench.

"Yow. . . wow. . . whoa!" Jay's eyes widened as Cole came out of the barn leading a HUGE, ROCKY SCALED, SHARP TOOTHED, SHARP CLAWED, DRAGON!

"Calm down, this is Rocky. He's my best friend." Cole patted the brown dragons snout affectionately, like it was a dog or something.

Jay swallowed hard, "Um. . . you're going to ride it now?"

Cole smirked, "Yep." He climbed up the side of the huge beast and threw his leg over the proportioned saddle, "Be back in a few." He snapped the thick reins and the dragon started for a huge field.

Must have been the take off spot. Jay watched in awe as the dragon started to run, and flap it's leathery wings. Faster and faster and faster until-

He was airborne!

Jay couldn't help feel the adrenalin as Cole let out a sharp whoop and disappeared into a batch of clouds.

"I gotta admit that looks awesome!" Jay laughed as his eyes followed Cole and his dragon.

No doubt about it, Cole was defiantly the best rider.

"I so have to do that!"

"Not in my fields you aren't."

Jay jumped and turned to be face to face with a clean shaved elderly man with steely green eyes.

"Uh. . . sorry, just thinking out loud Mr. . .?"

"Garmadon. I'm the dragon coach. I train these children and make them champions. You are?" The man spoke sharply, and to the point while eyeing Jay suspiciously,

Jay cleared his throat, "Jay Walker sir. I'm. . . a friend of Cole's. I'm new here."

Garmadon stared straight into Jay's eyes, unmoving, for a full minute, making the boy sweat slightly in apprehension.

Then all of a sudden he flashed a smile, his old eyes twinkled, "Huh, maybe you have what it takes after all." He handed Jay a flyer.

"Try outs are in a month." With that he walked away leaving Jay to stare at the paper in shock.

A loud thundering thud that shook the ground scared him out of his stupor.

"Hey Jay, catch that last trick over. ..Jay?" Cole walked up from behind, his hair wind tousled, his eyes sparkling with excitement. He looked so alive at that moment Jay was actually caught off guard.

"Whatchya got there kid?" He asked curiously.

"I just met a weird old man and he gave me this. A try out flyer for the dragon team." Jay grinned widely, "Apparently he thinks I have the guts for it."

Cole laughed, "Bet ya do kid. Think about it. Come on,I want you to meet some friends of mine."

Jay nodded folding the flyer into his back pocket, "Right behind you."

He followed the older boy down a long field. It was a little weird and uncomfortable since Cole had his dragon right next to him. He was leading it around like it really was a dog. Jay wondered If that would be him someday with a dragon, assuming he joined that is.

His parents would _flip._

Not in a good way either.

"Here we go."

"Where are we?" Jay peered into the wooden building.

"Dragon stables." Cole stated,opening a heavy wooden door, then he led his dragon into the box like room.

"Cole!"

Jay turned to see that strange blond haired boy he saw with Cole at lunch.

He had on the same thing Cole did, except his boots were white instead of black. His hair stuck straight up in a way that means this guy must have spent hours with hair gel every morning. He walked calmly and steadily. Something about him radiated calculated movements and respect.

Jay liked him.

"Hey Zane, nice run out there." Cole smiled clapping the blond on the shoulder.

No wonder Jay liked him. This guy was that Zane guy Cole said everybody liked. Cool. He looked nice enough.

Zane nodded, "Thank you. Who is your new friend?" He looked at Jay steadily.

"Hi, I'm Jay! Nice to meet you Zane I-" A loud crash and roar cut him off making him jump in an undignified way.

The boys turned to see, Jay wide eyed, Zane and Cole looked almost amused.

A string of curses flew through the air as the stable door flew open. A girl with messy black hair cut choppily right above her shoulders burst through dragging a huge purple streaked dragon behind her.

She glared at the boys, Jay bit his cheek, slightly afraid of the bright glow in her eyes. They glinted sort of purple. Wow, he'd never seen such a pretty face... and a dangerous looking one.

"Not a word." She hissed at Cole and Zane.

Cole looked like he was about to keel over laughing. Zane's lips twitched threatening to break into a smile.

Jay jumped as the short tough girl slammed the stable door shut and stomped past him.

Cole cleared his throat, "Come on Ash, be nice. Aren't you even going to say hi to our new friend." He seemed to be teasing.

Jay couldn't imagine where he got the guts to tease this scary girl. She whirled around to glare at him. For a long moment. Too long.

"Hi. Welcome to hell." She spat.

"Um... what?" Jay scratched his head making her roll her exotic eyes.

She turned to the other two, "Where'd you find this guy? The dragon racers leftover department?"

Jay drew himself up, determined to show this shorty he had guts too, "Hey! That's not very nice."

She glanced at him. Then she stomped off wordlessly. Taking her threatening air with her.

"Phew. For a second there I thought she was going to bit my head off." Jay slumped with a sigh of relief.

Cole laughed, "That's Ashlyn Hale. The first female dragon racer in this school, or anywhere else. Took serious guts to do what she does. Plus she's part dragon herself." Cole chuckled, as a weird fond look flashed across his face.

"Oh... ok then.. she seems nice." Jay stuttered, unsure.

"She is, She's just a little ticked today because I beat her record on the high dive. Must have seen the score board before she walked in."

Zane shook his head, "That explains everything! I swear the way you two compete."

Jya laughed now, "Wow! She seems awesome."

"Yah. I mean she thinks she is." Cole cleared his throat, changing the subject, "Come on Kid. Time to head home. You have a home right?"

The blue eyed boy tensed up immediately. Oh no! He couldn't let these high class guys find out where he lived... think of something quick! _Gah! Stupid brain, when I want it to work, it dies on me. When I don't, guess what! Trouble central!_

"Um... yah I do... it's far though, don't worry about it. Um thanks Cole a bunch." Jay smiled forcefully, "Bye guys, see ya tomorrow, bye Zane, nice to meet you." He waved and nearly flew out the door. Just barley making it out without tripping over his own feet.

Cole and Zane stared after him.

"What's with him?" Cole scratched his shaggy head.

Zane shook his, "And you call me strange."


	4. Chapter 4

_**A.N) Hey guys! I am on a roll! I am having so much fun on this story, even if it's going unnoticed for now. Anyway, this chapter was going to be longer but I cut it off because I felt that the place I left it on was good. So... Have fun!**_

 _ **More character development ahead!**_

* * *

"It'll be so exciting Jay!"

"NOOOOOOO!" Jay threw himself onto the old couch, "Mom! Please, I can't believe you would do this to me!"

Edna looked at her son with worried blue eyes, "But Jay honey... don't you want to have a party with all your new friends?" She just didn't understand her sons abnormal behavior.

Jay mumbled something into the couch pillow.

"Speak up hon."

"NO! Mom, I can't, I don't have any friends . . . I-I don't want a party. Ok, just drop it will you." He practically begged her. He could just imagine Cole's and Zane's faces if they saw the dump he lived in. No, not dump as in a shabby place. It was actually a real dump. With garbage and everything.

The middle aged woman sighed, '"All right snookums' if that's what you want."

Jay threw himself at her and hugged her tightly around her waist, "Yes, yes it is. It's exactly what I want." He burst out surprising his mother. He let go, grabbed his blue backpack and rushed out the door, "Thanks mom! Bye!"

Edna stood there and stared at the door where her one and only son just vanished through. She sighed, why wasn't he like any normal teenager? It made it harder to raise him because she couldn't ask any experienced mother about teenaged sons advice. . . all of them _wanted_ parties. They _had_ friends. They _wanted_ to be acknowledged _._

But not her teenaged son.

Sometimes she wondered if that was a good thing.

* * *

It had been a week, and so far things were going pretty well. Kai hadn't beaten him up yet. He had bonded slightly with Cole and Zane. But not that crazy Ashlyn girl yet. . . she seemed to be too scary for him.

He loved watching the dragons fly. He aced most of his classes, AND, to top it off, his math teacher had requested that he be put in a higher level of math because he was passing too easily. It turned out that higher level had Nya in it. He sighed to himself, Nya. . . he'd always get mushy and dreamy eyed when her picture flashed across his brain.

The more he thought about it the more he knew that she was the girl he wanted to make happy no matter what. To make her laugh. To get her roses and chocolate and whatever else she wanted. . . heck he was even sure he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

There was just that one little problem. . .

Her big brother wanted him _dead._

 _"_ Hey Jay!"

Jay turned around with a smile as he closed his blue locker, "Cole, what's up! And what the heck happened to your hair?" The blue eyed boy stared, shocked to say the least.

Coles hair was standing on end and it was multiple shades of purples, oranges, and greens. Certain places even had some sparkles on them.

"Oh, this is what happens when you fall asleep in a mystic potion experiment. Eh, it'll wash out." Cole shrugged it off bravely.

Jay raised a chipped brow at him, "Mystic potion wha-?"

"Don't worry you don't have to take that yet, next year though, watch out." Cole assured him, "Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go dunk my head in the bathroom sink. Catch ya at the field?"

"Yah! Totally!" Jay bit back a laugh as he watched the older brunet march towards the bathroom.

He shook his head, part of why he admired Cole was because the guy could face practically anything from minor accidents to mortal embarrassment without batting so much as an eyelash.

 _Wish I had the guts to deal like that_. He sighed to himself.

Another thought crossed his mind as the bell rang. . .

 _What the heck is a mystic potion class?_

* * *

"Whoa!" Jay jumped up yelling at the top of his lungs, "That was awesome!"

Cole slid off his dragon easily, "Better believe it was kid, I pulled it off."

Suddenly he looked a little down for some reason.

Jay caught this, being more sympathetic about noticing feelings of others, "You ok dude?"

"Huh... oh yah." Cole bit his lip, his silver eyes scanning the field.

"No, that's not it. Your not as excited as you usually are after practice. Why?" Jay pushed.

Cole looked down at him, he let out a deep sigh, "Nothing just, family stress." He stated slowly and led Rocky away towards the stables.

Now Jay was really confused. Family stress?

He quickly followed after his new friend.

He stopped suddenly as he saw Ashlyn walk towards Cole. She was in a dragon racer uniform so that means she must have just come in too. Jay gulped, hoping she was in a less dangerous mood.

"Come on Cole. He's your dad."

He heard her say gently. What? Ashlyn did gentle? Well, maybe he shouldn't judge, after all he really didn't know her yet.

"Yah well, maybe if he stopped nagging about it I might remember that more often." Cole sounded angry about something.

Jay watched as the petite girls wrapped her arms around the taller dark haired boys waist. For some reason this seemed to make Jay feel sort of left out, like he should be the one comforting Cole about whatever problem he was having.

He realized then that he hadn't known them that long yet, He really didn't have a place that high on the friend level. He sighed, reality and time royally sucked sometimes. His interest was piqued again when he heard Ashlyn speak.

"Maybe you should talk to him as openly as you talk to me." She ran a hand through Cole's shaggy hair, "with less anger though."

Jay felt really idiotic for spying on them. He didn't realize they had a 'thing'. . . What! How was he supposed to know that, nobody told him and he usually avoided Ashlyn.

Cole sighed and seemed to droop, "He doesn't listen. Thinks I'm wasting my time. Hates this stuff." He leaned against the stable wall and slid to the pebble covered floor, his head fell to the side and rested on his shoulder, "I wish he'd just get it."

Ashlyn looked down at the older boy and kneeled beside him, "Just talk to him Cole." She took one of his hands in both of hers, "If you want, I can help talk to him." She smiled gently at him.

Cole chuckled lightly at her earnestness, "Sorry Ash, "He lifted a hand and rested it on her head, tangling his fingers in her short black hair, "But I don't think he'll like the fact that your a girl AND doing the very thing he doesn't want me to do."

Her eyes twinkled at him, "Worth a shot."

Jay backed away from the door, figuring he should leave them alone and quit being a creep.

Oh well, maybe Cole would tell him what's what when he was ready.

Until then he clearly had a girlfriend that could help him out right now.

* * *

Jay walked out of his English B class and yawned. man, that teacher was so boring. Yeesh, the story of king Arthur was much more interesting when he read it in his own head. That woman just murdered the cool parts.

"Hi Jay!" A voice chirped, scaring him out of boredom

"Gah! Nya! Wh-wh-what are your doing here?!" He gasped, unconsciously looking around.

"Talking to you silly, " She giggled at him as Pixal walked up.

"Oh um, I don't think your brother will like that." He gulped nervously.

The girl rolled her brown eyes at him, "Seriously? Come on Jay, don't be afraid of him. He's not really that tough. He just acts that way." She patted his shoulder.

Jay wasn't to comforted, "Yah, well . . . better to be safe then sorry." He chuckled sheepishly.

Nya pouted, "Aw, so you don't want to be my friend?" She looked hurt. Really, really hurt.

 _Oh crap_. Jay felt his heart lurch. Man, he was going to be sorry for his next words.

"Of course I do Nya I-"

"Great!" She perked up instantly, "Come on! We're going to my house, wanna come?"

Jay died inside.

"Sure."

"Let's go! This'll be so fun!" The girl smiled widely and took his hand.

Jay came back to life. . . then died again.


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N) Ok so I'm not to sure about this chapter, that said if anyone has any pointers they can give me it would be most appreciated. I'm not to grand with action parts so... yah have fun anyway!**_

* * *

It had been a crappy day.

He was tired and hungry and so not looking forward to all that loser homework.

Kai rubbed his head as he pulled his house key out of his sock. Life just hated him. But hey, he wasn't to found of it himself.

 _Just grab something to eat and hit the hay. That's all. Then I'll cram in the morning._

A loud giggle caught his ear.

"What the-" He mumbled as he pushed the kitchen door open. What was his pesky little sister laughing about now? Probably some new cat video on PetTube he thought, annoyed. Then he saw him.

He nearly blew up right there.

That little booger was sitting at _his_ kitchen table, with _his_ little sister, laughing in _his_ house! Either this guy had a death wish or. . . he was really, really, _really_ stupid.

They fell silent.

Jay looked mortified.

Nya looked stubborn.

Pixal looked indifferent.

Kai looked murderous.

"What is HE-"

"Stop Kai." Nya stood up cutting her brother off, "He's my new friend and dad said he was welcome here. Stop being a jerk and start acting like a human being. Just because he happened to run into you doesn't mean you have to behave like an uncivilized, inhumane, moronic, jerk!"

Nya was breathing heavily as she glared up at her brother.

Kai glared back.

Jay slumped lower in his chair.

Pixal stood up, battle ready.

"I am not going to treat a good for nothing in anyway until I beat a lesson into him!" Kai shoved his sister aside and aimed a fist at Jay. That wasn't really his reason for disliking Jay, but hell if he was going to tell why to anybody. It was easier to just beat the younger boy up.

Nya screamed as her brother gutted the blue eyed boy fiercely.

Pixal gasped and tried to pull Jay away, but not before Kai punched him a black eye.

Half a minute later Kai threw him out the door and onto the sidewalk, "Never come to my house again!" He shouted angrily and slammed the door, leaving Jay to stand up and walk shakily away.

He heard screams and something break as he left the house. He knew he'd never go there again, not if his bloody lip had anything to say about it.

* * *

"What the heck Jay!" Cole glared at the shorter brunet now sporting a nasty shiner and swollen lip,"You went into enemy territory, scratch that, you went to where the guy LIVED, and you expected not to get beat up."

Jay shrugged.

He really wasn't in the mood this morning.

Zane clicked his tongue sympathetically, "Really Jay. It doesn't make sense why would you risk something like that?"

The blue eyed teen didn't answer.

"Jay."

It was soft, and heart piercing. Jay let out a sigh as his friends stared.

"Nya... please don't talk to-"

"No. I came to apologize. My brother is a really big jerk. I can't explain why he's like that," Nya's eyes watered when he turned around, she winced slightly at his black eye, "He wasn't always that way, just... ever since he started high school." She wiped her eyes and bravely went on, "I'm not here to make excuses for him though. He needs to fix his own mistakes. But I am here to tell you that I really like you and that I still want to be friends." She hung her head, "Though you might not. Anyway that's all."

She started to walk away.

Cole shoved Jay from the back. The blue eyed boy glared, "What?"

Cole didn't say anything. His eyes motioned his thoughts.

 _Go after her. She must be worth it if you went to her house risking a beating._

Jay gulped. Cole was right. He really liked that girl to the point of risking his very life. Out of the entire school he really wanted her to be his friend at the least. He wasn't sure he could handle not being her friend. With a deep sigh and chased after the young girl.

Deadly older brother be damned, he was going to be her friend.

"Well Zane. Guess that's your answer." Cole sighed and hitched his pack, "Let's go man. Or we'll be late for calc." He frowned slightly, he really hated that class. They both turned and were about to head out.

"Excuse me?"

A firm yet quiet voice interrupted the two. They turned back, surprised.

"Hey, Pixal. Haven't seen you lately, how's things." Cole smiled at the bright eyed girl when he recognized her. He'd known Pixal since she was in grade school, a quiet brilliant girl that used to get picked on all the time. Their fathers were friends and Cole had saved her from a nasty bully back in third grade.

She smiled slightly, "Well. Thank you. I don't suppose Nya came this way." She asked simply, to the point like always.

Zane nodded slowly, "That way I think. But she's. . . busy."

Pixal's face seemed to turn a little brighter when Zane spoke to her, "Oh, it's all right then I, I'll just go to class alone."

She was about to leave when Zane spoke up unexpectedly, "I could walk you to class Pixal."

Cole smirked.

"Oh, n-no, it's fine, really." She avoided his ice blue eyes.

Zane gave her a gentle smile, 'I insist. Milady." He offered her his arm in a gentleman like fashion.

She smiled back, "Thank you."

Cole watched as his friend led the younger girl away. He wasn't really the sappy type, but even he had to admit, that was pretty darn cute. Plus out of all the guys in the world Cole figured Zane was the most capable of taking care of her when he wasn't around, and they matched intellectually.

"Cole!"

"Yow!" Cole yelped and jumped ten feet in the air, resulting in an extreme giggle fest from the scarer. He glared at her, hoping nobody saw that.

"Can I help you _kid_." He emphasized the word kid because he knew she hated it, being three years younger then him she was touchy about that.

She narrowed her amethyst eyes at him, "I am NOT a kid. Here, Garmadon wanted me to give you this." She slapped a rolled up paper against his chest, "Last time I play errand girl." She muttered and started to stomp of, clearly ticked.

Cole chuckled and grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her back. Ashlyn stumbled and fell against his chest, "Cut it out Hunter!" She growled.

"Hummm, last name huh, seriously. Calm down Ash, I was just teasing. You know that." He eased her up gently, giving her a side grin.

The petite girl blew her bangs out of her face irritated, "Calm down yourself." She huffed, wrenched away her hand and marched off.

Ashlyn was a complete opposite of Pixal. Neither girl knew each other that well except in passing. But they both were pretty important to him. Pixal was more of a little sister though. Ashlyn, she had her own spice, and she drove Cole nuts while at the same time gaining his affection with each passing year. Unfortunately she could take care of herself and wasn't to keen on him doing that for her.

Cole sighed. Why did he suddenly feel really, really, left out?

* * *

It was decided. Nya wanted to be Jay's friend. And Jay wanted to be hers, but live to enjoy it. So they decided to keep it a secret. Neither thought about the consequences. Actually Nya did, but she really didn't care.

She liked Jay. He was different then the other boys. He didn't have that obnoxious, 'oh look at me, I'm a high schooler now, so I must be awesome' attitude most of them had.

Plus he was cute.

That helped catch her heart mostly. His blue eyes. Nya couldn't remember such stunning blue eyes. She liked him a lot. Now if only her brother was out of the picture. . .

She sighed to herself. One of these days she was going to find out what his malfunction was. Until then. Jay was a secret.

She smiled to herself.

Her secret. He was her secret.

A boy was her secret. That sounded really scandalous. She liked it.

Somebody shoved past her.

"Hey, excuse you." Nya grouched, not happy at this life from fro breaking her out of her content thoughts.

A girl turned fiercely on her, she had burning red hair, "Excuse yourself." She growled back at Nya.

"Who are you?" Nya demanded. She'd never seen this girl before. Or anyone with hair that bright before.

The girl glared green eyes at her, "None of your business." She snapped before stomping away.

Nya frowned, _well, some people._

 _Humph._

* * *

"A race?" Jay looked at his friends confused.

Zane nodded, "Yes, we participate in dragon races against other schools in Ninjago city." He explained simply.

"Cool, so uh. . . is this like a public thing?" Jay felt really dumb right now. He really needed to brush up on this schools activities.

"Yep. It's like any sport gathering. Soccer, basketball, baseball. Like that, only with dragon races instead. You wanna come? Watch me blow away the competition." Cole smirked.

Jay smiled, "Ok. Where do you guys have these races?"

"At the Phoenix Stadium. It's like twenty minutes away from our school." Cole informed as he tied Rocky to his box, "See ya tomorrow buddy." He rubbed his dragons snout affectionately. Rocky gave a small snort in response before he laid down and went to sleep.

"Aw, that's my boy." Cole smiled like he was watching his own kids fall asleep.

Jay laughed out loud, "Seriously dude? You act like he's your kid or something."

"Hey!" Cole frowned, "He's my best friend."

"Ok, I'm jealous." Jay needled.

The three boys left the stable laughing and teasing each other.

Neither were aware that there was somebody watching them from outside.


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N) Hello mates! This is yet another chapter of my story. Thanks to those that have reviewed, favored, and followed. Now for your lovely questions concerning Kai, don't worry he is a part of this story, I'm afraid your gonna have to wait a while until he comes clear.**_

 _ **As for those(you know who you are) that think I am writing Kai as a big jerk just because I hate him, I am afraid your completely wrong. Let me put this as politely as possible, Kai is one of my top favorite ninja's okay. I just wrote him like this in the story because it fits in the plots and I wanted to build on him throughout my story. I am not being a "hater" and just writing him as a bully for no reason other then that I hate him. I am making him a bully in this story because as I wrote before, it fits in the story I am trying to write.**_

 _ **So give this story a chance before you start accusing authors of being haters. Because believe you me I have a ton of better things to do then write badly for a character just because of spite. You know things like actually making a good story.**_

 _ **So yes, thank you and I hope you don't jump to conclusions on anyone else's story before they've even written half way.**_

 _ **Trust me, most of us just write for fun and the sake of adding another good plot to this fandom. Don't ruin it for them.**_

 _ **P.S. Oh and a special thanks to Shinyshiny9 for reviewing and giving advice!**_

* * *

"Cinnamon buns?"

"No, mom, it's ok. I want to go alone, ok. Please." Jay practically begged as his mother tried to force treats she could bring on him. Like this was a soccer game or something.

He could see his mom droop a little, "Ok then. Have fun snookums'."

"I will! Bye!" He called, slamming the door behind him and running off before guilt started seeping into his heart from his mothers left out look. He quickly shook it off and thought about what was going to happen soon.

He couldn't wait! His first time at a real dragon race! Maybe he would be the one racing soon! He played with that idea for a while as he walked down the street, following Zane's directions. _The stadium is huge_ , Cole said. _Ya can't miss it unless you were a blind moron._

 _Right._

So where the heck was it?

* * *

"All right boys. I don't need to tell you that this is easily one of the biggest races we'll have this year and a win towards the dragon races championship." Garmadon marched across the row of dragons and racers, "You lose this one and we lose our reputation. I did not train you to lose. So get out there and let me see you fly."

"Yes sir!" The racers all cried out in unison.

A well oiled machine.

Garmadon smiled at them, "And have fun."

They all grinned back at him.

The starters horn blared signaling them to make their way to position.

Now dragon racing needs to be explained or nobody will understand it.

It's a little like horse racing, and car racing combined with airplane racing. It's also a little like a relay race.

Horse racing because your riding a living thing. Car racing because each racer starts at a different marker. Airplane racing because. . . well duh!

Each team has at least five racers. Each team of racers stand on opposite side of the starter line, which is divided by a thick red line. The racers of each team stand in a yellow marked square on the ground, each behind the first, like a follow the leader line.

The point is to get at least ONE of your members across the finish line. To do that you have to tag off the finishing rod to the racer that is closest to the end, It's a copper stick with the teams colors wrapped around each end, at the same time helping each other to get past other members with a welled practiced play or tricks. It takes a serious amount of concentration and team work. It's not a one man show. All for one, and one for all.

If even _one_ member doesn't cooperate then the game is as good as lost. Good thing Garmadon was such a good coach.

The gun blasted in the air.

"GO!"

And they were off. A roar from the crowd went up instantly.

It was Dragon racers against The serpentines.

Cole was leader, Zane after, Ashlyn next, and two others members named Buddy and Seth.

Jay huffed up to the entrance just as the racers swooped in on the second half. He watched wide eyed and flushed.

The racers turned and dodged flying past each other swooping and twisting. Passing the rod seamlessly to one another.

Cole was in the lead, a scaly looking guy behind him was grinning viciously. Jay held his breath as the scaly guy lunged his dragon at Cole. Cole dodged, his hair flipping completely up, tossing the rod to Ashlyn who was behind him.

Jay gapped as she caught it, while flying upside down, and flipped downwards towards the line. The crowd boomed with applause and cheers. Jay hooted until his voice grew sore. She was so close, he almost stopped breathing.

Ashlyn had the line in her sights, The crowd unconsciously leaned forward, holding their breaths as the watched her focus, her eyes narrowed on the target.

WOOSH!

A serpentine cut her off, making her fall back extremely. The crowd gaped as another scaly passed, heading straight for the line.

Jay's heart pounded, oh no! They were losing! He could hear Garmadon yelling out orders. Jay held his breath as Ashlyn coiled then threw her rod with true talent. Zane flipped over and caught it before anybody could blink, sweeping right past the first serpentine, down, and right across the finish line!

An instant roar filled the stadium.

"DRAGON RACERS! DRAGON RACERS! YAH!" Hoots and hollers shook the fields as the dragons all landed with loud thuds, one after another.

Jay felt like he was going to collaps from too much adrenaline. That was the most incredible thing he'd ever witnessed in his entire life.

He ran up to his celebrating friends.

"That was AWESOME!" He shouted, nearly tripping over his running feet.

Cole gave him a high five, Jay gave Zane a punch in the shoulder, Ashlyn gave Jay an excited and unexpected hug. Jay just shook the other two guys hands. He didn't really know them.

"Phew, that almost gave even me a heart attack." Ashlyn faked fatigue before bursting into laughter.

Cole laughed, "Did you see their faces. Dude, talk about in your face."

"Indeed." Zane smiled big, "That felt rather good."

"Of course Zane. Winning always feels good!" Jay laughed.

"Come on guys! Smoothies on me!" Cole offered, pumping his fist in the air. A cheer went up in agreement.

Jay's smile grew wider. Hey, maybe this year wouldn't be such a let down after all.

* * *

It was getting cold. Autumn was setting in. The oak trees that lined her neighborhood were going through that normal faze when they all changed into different colors.

Ashlyn was shuffling down the leaf covered sidewalk, her amethyst eyes were closed as she pumped to the beat that was coming from her head phones. She twirled, her hair whipping around as smoky scented wind began to blow, making the leaves swirl around her black booted feet.

She jumped and robot danced backwards completely oblivious to the world. She sang the words under her breath as she shuffled back. Her purple sweater flaring out when she continued to dance.

Her peace of mind was shattered when she ran backwards into a tree.

"Ow." She groaned, sliding to the cold ground. She opened her eyes and looked around to see if anybody saw that. Nope, reputation was safe.

She stood up, dusted a few stray leaves off her tight fitting dark jeans and started off in a balanced jog towards her destination. She was going to be late.

Finally after a full ten minutes of running she thundered up a nice white washed porch. She rang the door bell which let out a strange but cheerful ring throughout the house.

The petite girl tapped her booted foot on the floor boards, waiting.

 _Where were they?_

Finally she heard footsteps and the lock unlatch.

The door opened and in the frame stood a middle heighted, elderly woman. She had greying brown hair, spectacles that balanced on her nose bridge and sparkling emerald green eyes behind them, she smiled brightly at Ashlyn.

"Ashy, sweetheart, how are you." She asked warmly.

"Great, you?" Ashlyn liked this woman, she was like the grandmother she never had.

"Wonderful, I hear you won the game yesterday." Despite the business of her life, Misako never forgot to ask or complement about a game. Her husband always kept her up to date.

"Yah!" Ashlyn laughed, "It was awesome. So. . . where's the little stinker?" The girl peered into the house curiously.

Misako laughed, "Lloyd, your favorite babysitter is here!" She called into the house.

It was silent.

Then a loud shuffle, some toys falling somewhere, a thump and down the stairs padded a little boy about 6 years old with light blond hair and bright green eyes like his parents.

"Ash-y, Ash-y!" He called excitedly running into the older girls arms.

"Hey little buddy! Ready for a day of fun!" She laughed tickling his slightly pudgy belly.

"Ok you two, don't burn the city down." Misako joked as she grabbed her purse, "Thanks so much Ashlyn, I'll pick him up later."

"Sure, no prob. We're going to have a blast!" Ashlyn smiled putting the child down and helping him with his coat, "See ya later Mrs. G" She called as she helped Lloyd plod down the porch and down the walkway.

"Bye muma!" He called, "See you later. We're going to have so much fun!" Lloyd jumped around excitedly, "This is going to be so cool!"

Ashlyn laughed again, "Yep, totally cool!"

* * *

"All right-y, Lloyd, what'll you have?" Ashlyn reached up and opened the cupboards, "I got. . . cinnamon graham crackers, chocolate bars, and, marshmallow cookies." She looked at the kid sitting in the chair.

He swung his legs thoughtfully, "I want the cookies. I already had a chocolate bar at home."

Ashlyn couldn't help but laugh at the decisive kid, one of the reasons she liked Lloyd was because unlike most kids his age he had the decency of being able to make up his mind for himself.

"Ok then. Cookies it is." She grabbed the pack and headed for the living room, "Come on we can eat in front of the T.V. My brothers not home today." She smirked.

Lloyd smiled and followed.

After setting the kid up with cookies and his favorite show, Ninja turtles, she headed back towards the kitchen for some milk.

Her head was buried in the cold box when the door bell rang. She popped her head back out, a cookie stuffed halfway in her mouth.

"Huh, wonder who that is." She walked towards the door, it couldn't be her dad, he was working late. It wasn't her brother, he was out off town.

She opened the door, "Cole?"

The dark haired boy turned around and looked at her silently. He didn't have to say anything. She knew just by looking at his face something was wrong.

"Come in." She stepped aside to let him in.

Quickly she closed and locked the door, following him into her living room.

"Cole?" She held the question in the way she said his name.

 _Your dad again?_

He looked at her, his eyes answering.

 **Yah, we fought, again. Bad.**

She walked closer, wanting to hug him but stopped. Two teens hugging wasn't really up a six year old boys ally.

"Hey Lloyd," She turned to the child who was stareing at them, wide eyed now, "I have a new toy in my room, wanna go get it."

He smiled, "Yah!"

With an adorable hop he plodded out the room and up the stairs.

Ash turned back to the older boy, "He'll be a while, I hid the toy extra well this time.'" She smirked.

Cole couldn't help but smile back, "Devil girl." He teased.

She shoved him playfully to which he responded by falling on the couch acting as if she'd mortally wounded him. Complet with dramatic gasp and lolling his head to the side.

Ashlyn couldn't help but giggle, "Your tongue is supposed to be hanging the other way stupid." She needled, before they both burst out laughing.

"Seriously though," She straightened after her laughing fit and sat down next to him, close enough so their legs were touching and wrapped an arm around his neck. Neither noticed, they'd been friends for so long that invading each others personal space was just normal to them, "How bad? Kick you out of the house bad?"

Cole's smile faded, "No, more like 'applying me into a collage for performing arts without me having any say in it what so ever kind of bad' he griped.

Ashley looked at his down face, "Aw, come on Cole. It can't be _that_ bad. Besides your really good at performing, you just need to. . . embrace it."

He shrugged her hand off and stood up, "No, I'm not and even if I was I don't get why I can't do what I WANT to do." He grouched pacing now, running a hand irritated through his shaggy black hair.

The petite girl bit her lip, she was trying to figure out how to get him to relax and feel better. His broad shoulders were tense. He really wasn't in a good mood. She wasn't sure talking would get him out of it. But maybe if. . . Her eyes suddenly sparkled mischievously. She got a devious idea.

"Come on Cole, just relax would you." She grabbed his forearms and pulled him closer. The dark haired boy wasn't really in the mood to resist so he let her pull him back onto the couch.

"Look at you, your all tensed up." She smirked as he looked at her slightly surprised. What was she trying to pull?

"Lemme help out." She lowered her voice just a notch and before he knew it she got up and walked around the couch so she was standing behind him. Without warning she started applying pressure to his shoulders.

Oh, he got it now.

It was that game again. They rarely played it, but when they did, it could get a little weird sometimes.

"You sure you wanna play this game Sweetheart." He smirked as she began to trace his shoulder in an absentminded way, digging her thumbs into a bunched muscle.

"Mhhmm, I want you to relax, boulder brain." She affirmed before moving her hands to his shoulder blades.

Cole shivered, wow, the spot she pushed on actually hurt then. . . felt really good when it loosened.

Ok, that was new.

He wasn't expecting it to actually feel that good. Where'd she learn how to-

His thoughts were cut off as she slipped her soft hands against the base of his neck and pressed her thumbs into a tight muscle, rubbing small circles with them.

Oh god. He almost moaned. She had to stop or this really would get out of hand. Not that he'd ever dream of hurting her in any way. He was just having a really bad day and wanted to talk to someone relatable like her. He wasn't expecting her to use physical comfort this time. She rarely did that, like ever. But maybe she knew what she was doing.

"Come on Cole, loosen these up." She whispered close to his ear, her breath smelt like peppermint and marshmallows. Damn, if she didn't stop he was going to forget how to think.

She knew too. She let out a short laugh. Cole bit his check, she was playing with his head, trying to make him forget about his dad. Ok, he had to get a grip.

Before she could do anything else he grabbed her arms from behind and flipped her over, making her scream out loud as she found herself flipping mid air one second and flat against her back on the couch the next.

"You done making me feel better yet?" Cole was leaning over her surprised self with a grin.

She shook of her stunned face and grinned back, "Jerk."

"Come on Ash. I'm still down in the dumps. Ain't ya gonna raise me out?" He smirked leaning closer over her petite frame.

She laughed and bend her knee all the way up to her chest so it was almost right under her chin, she was extremely flexible thanks to the gymnastics classes she took, "Sorry babe," She snickered at his shocked face as she placed a small foot flat against his chest,"But I'm pretty sure your fine now." And with that she pushed him away with her well placed foot.

A yelp escaped him as he fell back and rolled off the couch. Ashlyn burst into laughter and fell off for her troubles too.

Before they knew it both were in a mess of chortles and limbs.

A sudden loud sharp 'EEEEEEWWWW!' froze them both in a previously unnoticed, awkward position.

Ashlyn looked up from underneath Cole's arm which was draped over her head, at the small blonde boy that walked in.

Cole's face turned slightly pink, realizing her legs were bend up and her feet rested over his shoulder as he leaned over her mid section propped up on one hand.

"Lloyd? Oh. Oh you found the toy..." The black haired girl tried to brush this awkwardness away, "Good. . . for . . . you?

"You two are so gross! Like those dumb movies my mom watches! Blech!" He wrinkled his button nose up clearly disgusted.

At this point the two teens had straightened themselves up. Cole actually stood up, while Ashlyn merely folded her legs in a meditating pose and looked like she was about to explode from holding back her laughter.

"Come on Lloyd." She stifled a chuckle that threatened to escape, "Forget it. Let's go get some ice cream, Cole here was just helping me clean the crumbs out from under the couch." She tried to convince him.

Lloyd looked at her seriously for a moment in an' how dumb do I look' kind of way.

Silence for a second.

"I'll give you a triple scoop."

"Yes!"

And just like that he ran into the kitchen and forgot.

Ashlyn smirked, crossing her arms as Cole scratched his head.

"Ok?"

She looked at him simply, "Feel better?"

He smiled now, "Actually, besides that last part." He hooked an arm around her short waist and brought her closer, "Yah. I do. Thanks Sweetheart."

Ashlyn bit her lip, fighting back a blush. He always called her that since forever when it was just them, somehow it never came off as more then an endearing pet name when he said it before. But recently it had started getting a blush out of the young girl. She blamed hormones. But she really liked it on the inside. Besides he was her best friend.

"Your welcome Cole. Just take it easy kay." She pulled away, "I'm gonna go keep my promise to lil' blondie." She smiled and disappeared through the kitchen doorway.

Cole stood in the middle of the room, watching her go, slowly his mind began to wander until he was lost in his thoughts.

What was he supposed to do about his father though. There was no way to make that man happy, no matter what he did he was a let down and-

"Hey Cole?" Ashlyn popped her head back in, "Want some ice cream?"

This got a chuckle out of him, this girl just knew him too well, "Of course." His dad problems could wait for ice cream, "Three scoops."

She laughed back, "Hey get your hands off the rocky road!"

.


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N) Ok here's another chapter, thanks so much for all those reviews. But I have a problem which I don't understand. Why do some of the reviews show in my email, but not on this site? Is there something I have to do to get them showing or what? I don't know, it can't be because some of them are guest because logged in ones don't show sometimes too.**_

 _ **Anyway, this chapters a little longer, I think I'm moving somewhere with this. . . let me know how the characters do in this.**_

 _ **Have fun!**_

* * *

"It was just too awesome!" Jay jumped around laughing, his chestnut hair flipping over with his excitement.

Nya almost choked on her smoothie through a giggle, "Wow, that must have been some race."

"It was! I just said so! It was awesome!"

Nya let out another musical giggle before returning her mouth to the rainbow straw she was previously sucking on.

Both young teens were inside Jay's new favorite place. 'Ninja Smooth's' It was a weird name but they made smoothies that rocked!

Besides they didn't have room to be picky over hang out spots. Both had just barely made a tweak in their schedules to sneak away after school without anyone noticing them together. Anyone meaning Kai.

"I am so glad I got into the dragon racers crew." Jay smiled brightly before sucking down the last bit of his blueberry smoothie.

"Your a dragon racer now too?" Nya quirked an eyebrow at him. Obviously not informed of this fact.

"Hum, oh no, I meant in the crew, as friend wise. Ya know, being friends with their captain and best runner ups." Jay cleared up as he stood up, "But don't get me wrong, I'd love to be one and have an awesome dragon!"

Nya's soft brown eyes looked at him endearingly, making him blush lightly, "Why don't you try out?"

His blue eyes went on hers, "Because I'm not sure if mom and pop want me too."

A spark went off in Nya's eyes that Jay couldn't figure out, "Oh! Your parents! I'd love to meet them!" She exclaimed suddenly.

Jay gulped, "Oh, uh, nah they're um, always busy and - and stuff, never really home." He knew he was stuttering. He did that when he was lying. But Nya didn't know that yet. So he probably got away with that one.

She looked at him curiously though, "But. . . then who takes care of you?"

"Um, I can handle myself." He swallowed his guilt down, great, now he made his parents seem like some kind of horrible people.

"Oh. Ok then." She looked away, Jay wondered what she was thinking.

He sucked in his breath as, he paid and they walked out of the shop, the bell making a cheerful ring when they passed through the door.

"So. . . Nya, I guess we should be heading our separate ways?" Jay looked down at the slightly shorter girl, a light breeze blew her short hair around her face. He was suddenly aware of his fingers itching to brush the strands away.

 _Hold it back, hold it back, just forget going anywhere then where you are with her._

He mentally smacked himself, _get a grip moron_.

"Um, I really don't have anything to do at home." She answered snapping him back down to reality.

He shuffled next to her, looking at the ground, an awkward silence fell on them, only broken by the occasional car or bike bell.

Jay bit his lip, Ga _h, why is it suddenly so hard to talk to her! We were ok a few minutes ago!_

He kicked a pebble on the rough sidewalk, watching it roll into the road. _Say something! Oh man, this is like a perfect time for a meteor to crash or something! Anything! Ugh, I am such a dork..._

"I'm sorry Jay, maybe this whole keeping our friendship a secret is a bad idea." Finally, she broke the silence.

 _Oh wait_ , her words hit him then made his heart sink.

"S'ok Nya. I understand if-"

"No silly, it's not for me." She nudged him playfully, "Your just so tense, like you're expecting my brother to jump out at any moment and swallow you whole!" She laughed lightly at this picture.

Jay grimaced, "Yah... maybe I have been a little worried." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

Suddenly he felt a soft warmth against his side, she was hugging him. His brain short circuited. _What do I do now!_

"Don't be. Kai can't hurt you like that. He's not that crazy. . . yet." She finished the last word quietly.

She let him go, his body relaxed. He hadn't realized it had become tense.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She smiled big at him.

Her smile looked like a bright ray of the sun, "Yah, yah, totally!" He smiled back.

"Bye Jay!" She called and headed down the street.

Jay stood there watching her with a goofy grin on his face, "Yah. . . bye." His words were soft and nobody but the wind heard.

He sighed to himself, _Man, what have I gotten myself into._

* * *

"It's disgusting." Ashlyn bit into her balony sandwich as she glared at the stupidly colorful poster that was offending the lunch table she was sitting at.

Cole chuckled lightly, "Ash, it's just a dance." He stated, swallowing a fry.

Ashlyn rolled her deep purple eyes, "Yah, a dance for nit wits." She glared at the poster again.

It said 'Come one, come all, to this years Fall Formal' In big bright, bold pink letters.

"I am confused as to why you hate this kind of things so much Ashlyn." Zane raised a blond brow at her scowling face, "After all, girls are the ones that plan these and get all excited about them. Why don't you?"

The petite girl sighed loudly and put her sandwich down, the crumbs on her plate suddenly became very interesting, "No reason, there just so. . . demeaning to our gender. Yah that's it."

Cole grinned, "Yah is that it? Or is it that you want to go but all the guys are just to afraid to ask you."

This got him a kick under the table.

"Shut up!" She hissed, looking around to see if anybody heard him, "You know I don't care what other guys think.'

"Oh yah." Cole laughed despite the ache in his leg, "Right, I forgot, you only care what me and Zane think."

Ashlyn let out a groan and let her head flop on the table, "You are so stupid sometimes." She mumbled unhappily.

Zane looked concerned, "Perhaps that's not the best way to talk to her right now Cole." He looked at his dark haired friend, whose eyes were securely stuck on Ashlyn's slumping form.

"I know Zane. Gimme a sec ok." Cole answered, still looking at Ashlyn.

Seriously though, what could be her problem this time? She always disliked the middle school dances, but this year was her first high school one. She'd never looked depressed about it before? Why was this one any different?

His thoughts were cut short as Jay slipped into the seat next to him.

"Hey guys what's up-whoa. . . what's up with Ashlyn?" Jay shifted uneasily as the girl raised her head up to glare at him.

He still wasn't too sure about her.

"She's suffering from mood swings." Zane stated firmly, ignoring the look Ashlyn sent him, "She'll be all-"

A sudden loud squeal cut Zane off completely.

The entire cafeteria stopped buzzing and turned to look at their table. Then slowly, even Cole, Zane, and Ashlyn, all looked at Jay.

He looked back at them, his face contorted by horror. Then he snapped up straight, "Um. . . sorry, go back to your lives citizens." He smiled sheepishly.

An agonizing second or two of some more staring before everyone went back to whatever they were doing.

"Geez Jay, what the heck was that?" Cole raised a thick brow at the blue eyed boy.

Jay took a deep breath, as if coming through a heart attack, "What. Is. That!?" He pointed an accusing finger at the poster that lay next to Ashlyns baloney sandwich.

"What? This?" Ash picked up the poster and handed it to him, "It's just a flyer for the Fall Formal coming up. No big deal." She tried to brush it off as if that wasn't her problem a few minutes before.

Jay snatched the poster out off her hands. "Oh gosh no! No!" He yelped and literally ran out of the room, leaving his friends in a confused muddle.

"O-kay then." Ashlyn scratched her head, "What the heck was that?"

Zane and Cole looked at her wide eyed, "Um... not sure."

"I have no idea."

"Weirdo." Ashlyn scoffed, before letting a smile spread onto her face, "Make's things interesting though."

Cole snorted in his milk, "You got that right."

"Perhaps we should figure him out later." Zane surmised.

The other two nodded and resumed their lunch.

* * *

"ohnoohnoohnoohno!" Jay freaked out, zipping down the hall, the flyer still crushed in his grip.

St _upid dances, stupid schools, stupid everything! Stupid memories! Stupid fears! Oh god!_

And it figures the only girl he'd actually like to ask was a no no for him.

Whack!

He groaned before a hand grabbed the front of his shirt.

 _Shoot!_

"Where are you going twerp." Kai glared at the frightened boy, his dark brown eyes melting into Jay's light blue ones.

"No-nowhere!" Jay squeaked out, his brain now rushing from his previous freak out.

Kai looked at him, his eyes narrowed in on the paper in Jay's hand. He reached out and snatched it out of the smaller boys hand.

"Whatchya got there doofus," He looked at the obnoxious flyer, "Planning on going to this." His eyes narrowed again, this time at the cornered Jay, "You'd better know my sister is NOT one of your choices."

Jay gulped, "Um. . . what if I want to ask her." _Idiot_!

Kai slammed him against the lockers, "What if I want to wring you neck for that."

Jay believed he would have too if it wasn't for the principal.

"Let go!" He yelped, struggling.

"Mr. Burner, let go of that young man immediately!"

Fear and confusion actually passed through Kai's dark eyes as he dropped Jay instantly and turned around.

"Uh, Mr. Wu, I uh." He was stuttering. Jay couldn't believe it. The big bad bully was afraid of this admittedly old man.

The principal was a thin old man with a thick long white beard and fading white hair. But his blue eyes were staring Kai down dangerously.

"I think that's quite enough. Detention. For a month."

Kai's face broke, Jay could see it literally break.

"Did I stutter Mr. Burner." Wu continued harshly.

Kai mumbled a string of curses under his breath, sending a death glare in Jay's direction before stomping off down the hall.

"Are you all right?" The elderly man asked, helping Jay up.

"Um, yah, thanks."

Wu nodded his head, "Carry on then. Boys like that need more discipline. I will see that his father hears about this."

Fear gripped Jay, "Oh, no, it's ok, Mr. Wu, it's fine really." _Just please, don't, don't tattle on me! I'll never survive to the end of this year!_

"I don't understand. But don't worry, this will be handled." And he walked away. Leaving Jay nearly in tears.

 _A crap, now my life really is over!_

* * *

"It's not Fair!" Jay whined as he flopped on the green bench.

Cole was feeding Rocky what looked like dead rats or something, as Jay complained and told him what happened with the principal.

"Now he'll be looking for me every day after school!" Jay grimaced imagining the end of his life.

"Calm down Jay. Your over doing it. Look Kai's a jerk wad, but even he wouldn't dare mess with Principal Wu." Cole assured the panicking teen as he scratched Rocky under his scaly jaw.

A Jay groan was his only response.

Cole chuckled lightly, "Drama queen."

"Why is he such a freak!" Jay blurted out suddenly angry, "Why can't he just leave guys like me alone!"

"Cuz Jay, if there was no conflict the world would be perfect." Cole stated simply, "And that's impossible. There's no such thing as perfect."

Jay groaned again. "Thanks Cole. That, that really brings on the sunshine."

"Happy to help." The black haired boy smirked.

Jay decided to get back some of his own, "So, gonna take Ashlyn to that dance thing."

Rocky's food fell to the floor getting an indignant snort from the dragon.

"What are you talking about?" Cole glared as he bent over to pick up the now dusty piece of meat.

Jay smirked now, "What? You two aren't an item?"

"No!" Cole turned to stare at the kid, actually shocked, "Why would you think that?"

"Um. . . because the way you two act around each other is ridicules. Seriously, how many times have we seen you touch her arms, or waist or whatever. And she doesn't seem to mind at all. And knowing Ashlyn means you've got her permission to do that or else she'd knock you out." Jay's smirk grew twenty times it's size as Cole's face went slack.

"You-you got it all wrong!" Cole ran hand through his thick shaggy hair, "We've known each other forever, seriously since she was like three. We just sorta got used to each other like that and- um maybe we kinda don't notice what it looks like to outsiders." Cole shifted slightly his brain whirring now. Just how intimate did they look at times?

"You serious?" Jay straightened, his bully problem forgotten, "You mean you guys are just that comfortable around each other?"

Cole nodded slowly.

Jay's eyes widened, "Wow, that's," Jay pondered for a moment. He couldn't imagine how nice it must be to be so in tune and comfortable with a girl like that, so much so that Cole could get away with kissing her and it wouldn't be a problem.

"That's pretty nice." He finished, catching Cole's expression, "But are you telling me she's like a sister?"

Cole looked at him again, "No-" He said slowly, "Pixal, she's like a sister, but Ashlyn..." His face softened as he thought about the short, pale girl with fondness, "She somehow just grew inside as something else." He shook his head, "I'm not sure what though."

"Um, how 'bout girlfriend?"

"What? No. she'd not that type of girl besides I'm practically ready for collage next year. She'll be in tenth grade. You know the way people are, imagine what they'd say if we started going out like that. It'd never stop." Cole frowned in disgust at socity and their gossipings.

"So what? You like her. A lot. Now I don't know Ash too well but from what I've seen she seems to be right up your-"

"Hi guys."

Both boys froze as Ashlyn herself walked into the stables, leading her dragon 'Spark'l' she called it, behind.

Jay's eyes went straight to Cole's face. The older boys face had softened instantly. Come to think of it his face always did that when Ashlyn walked in. Jay wondered if she'd ever noticed.

Yep, head over heels.

"What?" Ashlyn looked at them confused. Feeling the silence as she locked the door.

"Um, nothing." Jay smiled, "Looking very pink this afternoon Ashlyn." He attempted to make her laugh and get easier around her.

"Um, ok thanks?" She raised a black brow at him, "Are you ok Jay?"

"Yep." he smiled, popping the 'p', "You?"

Ashlyn threw a bewildered look at Cole.

Cole shrugged, "Um, yah don't ask me."

"Ok, then. I'd better go." Ashlyn cleared her throat. Kinda weirded out now.

Jay slumped slightly. _Well so much for easing her up. I am such a dork._

"Hey, you guys wanna come?"

Jay lifted his eyes to her face, "Come again?"

"Yah." She threw a piece of meat into Spark'l's box, "I've got a report due on micro organisms, I heard your good in biology." She flashed him a friendly smile. The first one he'd seen directed at him.

"Yah sure, I'd love to help out. Um, Cole, you coming?"

The black haired boy smiled, "Sure. Hold on." He fixed Rocky for the night and locked behind them, "Let's go."

Ashlyn closed the barn door and they all headed down the street.

Jay wasn't sure why but he was totally excited about going over to someone else's house. Maybe because nobody had invited him over back where he lived. Especially not a girl, even if she was kinda scary.

But hey here was a plus! No psycho older brother! Yep, maybe Ashlyn was going to be a good addition to his friend list after all.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N) Hey dude's how's it! Here's another chapter, don't worry this story is taking off in different directions for each character. I just. . . have to figure out which directions 'heh' anyways have fun!  
**

* * *

"Nice place." Jay surveyed the neat peach colored house. It was on floor and had purple flowers lining the walk way and windows.

"Thanks." Ashlyn smiled, "Not really that great, but it's a roof over our heads." She climbed up a short flight of steps. Jay watched as she quickly bent down and poked her hand inside a flower box next to the door. Two seconds later she pulled out a aging key and had the door open wide.

"Come on in." She invited throwing off her shoes the moment she stepped inside.

Jay smirked, she really was a fiery chic. Even her natural habits were blunt and sudden.

"Dad!" She hollered then stopped, waiting to see if there was an answer.

Jay watched as Cole landed on the well worn couch and let his head fall back comfortably. Figures he'd be comfortable here. He'd probably been here a thousand and one times.

Jay decided to try and relax too.

Unfortunately life hated him.

The minute he sat down heavy metal music came blaring all the way from the other side of the house.

Cole lifted his head, his silver eyes narrowing as Ashlyn rubbed her amethyst colored eyes. W _hat's the deal? Her father was into heavy metal?_

"Oh god, I didn't know he'd be home today." She muttered, clearly irritated.

Jay heard a loud thumping from the other room. A sudden slam of a door and heavy footsteps.

For some reason Jay suddenly felt like the last character in a monster movie before the monster jumps out and devoured him.

Ashlyn looked more troubled with each step they heard.

"Hey, bratlyn, what're you doin' here." A tall male, at least 22 years old, dark brown hair and brown eyes that seemed to flash red in the light, he had an ugly scowl and a weird tattoo on his left arm, looked like a snake eating it's own tail, he had nothing on except black sweats and a white tank.

"This is my house too Dyron. Get over it. Or better yet, move out." She snapped back, narrowing her eyes at him.

The guy, Dyron, didn't seem fazed in the least by the shorter girls glare. Jay for one felt he would have caved. The slippery dudes eyes slid over to Jay and Cole. Jay instantly wished he would disappear. Cole glared back, equally unfazed by him.

"You brought what? Hoe bros? " He sneered nastily at them, "What's the matter Ash? That one punk not enough for you?"

Cole clenched his fists. Jay felt him tense up next to him.

Ashlyn bit her lip, "What are you doing here? I thought you were going to stay out of town for a week." She poked Dyrons chest.

"Bug off brat, I can do whatever I want. I better not hear anything from these crud hoggers. Or else I'll call the police on 'em." With that last insult the older male stomped off, slammed the door to his room and blasted his music on high.

Jay gulped, as his eyes slowly turned towards Ashlyns hardened face.

"Gee... who was that?" He blurted out before his brain could shut him up.

Ashlyn shrugged it off like nothing, "Just the creep I had to get stuck with for a brother. No biggie. I'm sorry though, I thought he wouldn't be here."

Cole stood up, "S'ok Sweetheart," He instantly wrapped a comforting arm around her, "Come on we can still finish that report. Let's go to - my - house." He broke off slightly at the end but finished his sentence anyway.

The black haired girl shrugged, "Whatever."

Jay stood up, realizing that Ashlyn had bigger problems then meets the eye. And he had no business to pry anymore, not right away anyway.

"Yah, cool." Jay smiled, trying to make the best of this awkward situation.

* * *

"The report'll be fine." Jay assured Ashlyn as they walked to school together.

Ashlyn looked over the report again, "I don't know, I feel like I'm missing something on plankton." She narrowed her eyes in concentration.

Jay laughed, yesterday had been interesting to say the least. After that rude encounter with Ashlyn's big brother, they'd all headed over to Cole's. The guy looked so nervous it freaked Jay out. It seemed that only when he was sure nobody was home he relaxed a bit. But then he paced back and forth past a window the whole time Jay and Ashlyn were doing her report.

Jay had noticed some looks exchanged between Cole and the younger girl, but he was too polite to say something.

"It'll be fine, don't worry, seriously. It's not that big a deal." Jay patted her awkwardly, still not sure where they stood on friendship grounds.

She took a deep breath and flashed him a pretty smile, "Thanks Jay, you're pretty cool you know."

The blue eyed boy felt a light blush creep up his neck, "Um, thanks?"

She laughed out right this time, "Your really bad at processing compliments though."

This time he laughed with her.

* * *

"I'm telling you Pixal, it'd be the most amazing thing ever!" Nya bounced on her toes as she and Pixal walked down the hall on the way to English.

Pixal sighed, "Your one for risks Nya." She shook her near silver blonde hair, "I wish I had that sort of courage." The young genius seemed to slump slightly.

Nya stopped and looked at her, "You know, you could just ask, what's the worst that could happen."

"How about being shunned from this very school, and made fun of well into collage." The green eyed girl frowned dismally.

"Pixal, he's just a grade above, who cares." Nya tried to comfort her friend, "He's only seventeen. Your almost there."

Pixal sighed again, it seemed to come from her toes this time, "Easy for you to say. The boy your crushing on is in one of your classes AND your age."

Nya smiled, "Yah but still-" Her face fell when she heard a familiar goofy laugh.

"Jay?"

She peeked around the purple colored wall and saw Jay Laughing along with a vaguely familiar, and extremely pretty girl.

"Hey so, four thirty then?"

She heard him ask.

The girl nodded, her choppy black hair flipping slightly, "yah sure, I'd love to."

Nya's eyes widened at the Jay's next words.

"It's a date." And a smirk followed.

Nya gasped as she turned away. Her heart felt suddenly really heavy, and she felt sick to her stomach. Her vision was blurring. Why was her vision blurring? She needed to throw up, no, just lie down.

"Nya? Are you all right?"

Pixal's question was lost in Nya's mind which was whirling thoughts before she rushed down the hall and into the bathroom.

Pixal stared after her shocked. And confused.

* * *

"Dork." Ashlyn laughed, shoving Jay playfully with her arm.

Jay smiled for real now, "I was kidding." He got a dangerous, yet devious idea, "'sides, Cole would kill me if I started making moves on his girl."

Ashlyn screeched to a halt, stupefied, as Jay let out a wild laugh and ran down the hall, out of her reach.

Phew, she didn't chase after him.

Instead she shook her stunned head and bit her lip, before turning around and heading for her biology.

Jay gulped, Maybe he shouldn't have pushed that button yet. _Aw man, way to go moron. And to think you were almost friends with her. Big fat mouth._

He beat himself up, and began to wonder if she was going to meet up at the smoothie shop today after all.

 _Probably not. Idiot._


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N) Ok dudes and duttets, here is yet another chapter for you lovely readers and thanks so much for the reviews! I noticed some new reviewrs were from my first Ninjago story and I say welcome to a different adventure! So glad you'r joining us! I hope you have as much fun with this one as you are with the last one!**

 **Here's something interesting in this chapter. Hope it feels real and moves us along! Thanks and have fun!**

* * *

"Zane?" Cole raised his eye brows up until the disappeared under his bangs, "What are you doing?" He asked looking at his currently upside down friend.

Zane smiled serenely, "I am testing a floating compound for mystic potion class." He closed his eyes and floated upside down still, but higher.

Cole scratched his head in confusion, "O-kay then." He decided to leave Zane be with his strange test. The thing about Zane was that he was often really strange. Like almost above average strange. Was being strange even an average thing? Cole wasn't sure but he figured everyone was strange in some point of their characters.

"I'll leave you to it then." He shrugged it off and headed out of the enclosed class room, Zane liked to stay after school for these things.

He started whistling a random tune from his head as he sauntered down the hall. Before he could think a figure zipped around the corner and ran straight into him. Cole yelped and braced himself.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, where's the fire?" He looked down and saw, "Ashlyn? What're you running from?" He lifted her up by her upper arms gently.

She pushed her bangs out of her eyes and looked at him hard, "Kai." Was all she said, hard and clear.

Cole's silver eyes widened, "Wait, where's Jay?"

She shook her head fiercely, "That's what I came to tell you! He got to Jay and now both somehow ended up in detention. Jay got off easy for defending himself." She suddenly averted her eyes.

The taller boy looked at her shifting, closely. If he knew Ashlyn, she was guilty of something right now, "Ash?" He spoke firmly, yet with a gentle notch in his otherwise rough voice.

She bit her lip harder and met his eyes, "Yah."

"What happened exactly?" He stated more then asked.

She sighed loudly, "Ok, ok, so I may have helped Jay out a bit. . . of course it didn't look like I did." She lowered her voice, seeming ashamed.

"You got to Kai, again. Didn't you. And Jay took the heat." He looked disappointed.

"NO! I just. . . might have thrown my shoe at Kai," She laughed sheepishly as the older boys face slackened a bit.

"You threw your. . . shoe at him?"

"Yah, then he sorta turned on Jay who was unlucky enough to be standing there and. . . yah." The purple eyed girl rubbed her arms uncomfortably.

Cole sighed, "Ok, we'll straighten this out. Come on." He headed towards the principals office.

Ashlyn followed nervously, "I hope Jay's still breathing."

"You and me both sweetheart."

* * *

 _Oh god! I am so dead! Good bye, cruel world. I'm gonna miss you . . . well not the cruel part, probably just the good part. like, like, um . . . Smoothies, and moms cookies and. . . Nya. Oh Nya how do I love thee let me count the ways. Ugh, dude I'm about to die and I'm mushing out. Is that what death does to you? Make you mush out? Aw, I wish I could go out on a high manly level. Guess I'm not as macho as I should be._

 _Dang it, he's looking at me, no wait, glaring. Hold it. . . yep, no, yes, he is officially trying to burn my head off with his eyes... Man, if looks could kill, I'd be dead a thousand times over. Maybe I should say something. No, yes, maybe. Yah, come on Jay, if he's Nya's brother he can't be that bad. But then Ashlyn's brother seemed to be a real ass hole so why wouldn't this guy be one too. But is he one, or is it all an act? He just sneered at me, ok maybe it's not an act. Oh geez, just say something. What's the worst that could happen._

 _Um. . . he could kill you before the teacher notices he's gotten up._

Jay heard a snore.

 _Great, the teachers asleep. Swell, now I don't even have a measly bit of protection._

Jay's eyes flickered towards Kai, who was sitting three rows away from him, arms crossed, and a scowl plastered on his face.

"Um. . . hi?" _Idiot, keep your mouth shut!_

Kai's scowl actually dropped, maybe he wasn't expecting Jay to say anything.

That could be bad.

"Um, look sorry about this, I. . . I didn't really have anything to do with it though." Jay smiled sheepishly.

Kai's scowl returned, as did his glare.

Jay figured he was as good as dead anyway, "So. . . um, sorry, again."

Kai turned away, "Don't talk to me." He spat menacingly.

Jay gulped.

"Ok then.' Silence prevailed for the rest of the time.

Slowly Jay looked over towards Kai. He was slumping now, his posture wasn't as threatening as it had been two seconds ago. Maybe this guy wasn't as bad as Jay thought. Maybe he was a normal dude. But then why would he beat people up? Jay wasn't sure why but there was something different about this bully.

He made up his mind, he'd figure it out later.

Unless of course, there was nothing to figure out.

* * *

'I am so sorry, Jay, really." Ashlyn said for the millionth time that day.

Jay shrugged it off again, they had told him what she had done. But he didn't care, he was still breathing and Kai had ignored him until the left the school. It was cool. Actually he was surprised she would be so earnest about her apology after his stupid slip up with his mouth earlier. All things considered he was glad she was talking to him still.

"I got that the first thousand times Ashlyn. It's cool. Don't worry about it." He assured her, as they headed for the dragons barn.

"Just making sure." She breathed out, "Frankly, I'm surprised your still able to walk." She looked at him like he was hiding injuries or something.

Jay shrugged again, "Hey," He spoke as if a thought just hit him, "You know, why is Kai such a jerk?"

Ashlyn shrugged this time, "Beats me, I just got here this year. Cole and Zane say he wasn't like this before he started high school. But then they just clam up and don't say anything else about it." The black haired girl tapped her angular chin, "Which is pretty weird seeing as Cole usually tells me everything. But when it came to that jerk. . . he sorta just turns away, or changes the subject."

Jay looked ahead in thought, "Weird, he avoids it with me too."

"Guys." Ashlyn smirked, "No offense."

"None taken."

"Hey Jay, Ash. What took ya?" Cole called as they walked up to the barn. Cole was coming out with Rocky in tow.

Ashlyn smiled wider, "Nothin' just apologizing." She nudged Jay in the chest.

"Yah, for like three million times." Jay laughed, as Cole smirked.

"Yah, I bet. So Ash, you gonna come out to field and practice the plays or what?" He smiled knowing her answer already.

Her eyes sparkled, "Am I ever!" She jumped and disappeared into the barn.

Jay chuckled, "Ain't she adorable when she's excited?" He smiled coyly at Cole who smirked back.

"Yep."

Jay laughed at his friends honest response.

Ashlyn broke through their bonding moment as she practically flew (without her dragon) out of the barn, fully uniformed.

Jay couldn't help but notice how well she fit into it. One of those short, but solid girls. That made her pretty good on the girl hotness scale.

Her dragon came thumping behind her. It's purple scales shimmering under the late afternoon sun.

'Come on!" She grinned excitedly, grabbing hold of the rope that hung on the side of the saddle, "Let's fly a few winds." With one quick pull, she climbed up the side of the seated dragon and sat in the chair like saddle.

Jay watched as Cole did the same thing. He held his breath as his friends pulled the thick reins, making the dragons stand to full height. The blue eyed boy couldn't explain it but when ever he just watched the dragons start up into a run before take off he'd get this whoosh of adrenaline and feel like he was going to faint from excitement.

He practically knocked out as he watched the awesomeness take off, Ashlyn shrieked with utter excitement, Cole whooped behind her. Jay watched, swallowing hard, man, they way they screamed made him feel the rush. He wondered if it ever got old.

Another hoot from Ashlyn gave him a pretty direct answer.

After a minute or five of watching them, Jay decided it was making him light headed. So he shrugged off the fast feeling he had and decided to check the place out. He'd been coming here for weeks since school started, but he'd never fully checked it out, other then the stable barn.

He walked a little ways down the trail, behind the fields. Hum, a trailer. Interesting. He decided to check it out.

Slowly he made his way very the rocky ground and climbed up the rickety steps. It looked like this place wasn't an every day use. If the peeled paint and creaking floor boards had anything to say about it.

He pushed the door open slowly, getting an ominous feeling as the door let out an ear splitting 'eeeeeek!" He blinked several times to get used to the dim light. The windows were boarded up, and only a few rays of light escaped through and onto the dusty floor.

Jay sneezed.

Loud.

He shook his head as a cloud of dust puffed away from the force of breath.

Yuk, this place looks like it hasn't been used in years. He thought to himself.

A flash caught his eyes. He turned to look at a shelf that had strange dust covered objects on it. Curiosity got the better of him as he reached out and dusted off one of them. It glittered underneath.

Jay caught his breath and brushed more dust off with his shirt. It was a trophy. Some plaques hung on the wall, and. . . a photo stuffed behind them all caught his attention.

He pulled it out and dusted it off carefully, His eyes scanned the picture slowly. Suddenly a couple of young faces caught his eyes.

He knew those faces, and the dragons. It was Cole, Jay guessed about a year or so ago, He looked less muscled and a bit short. Zane, and... Jay gapped, Kai?! It was him, Jay blinked, _no way_. Yes it was, he only knew one guy that wore that ridicules hair do. It was Kai, and next to him was Zane, Cole, and each of their dragons, along with some unfamiliar faces, dragons, and Garmadon.

Jay pulled the photo out of the old cracked frame and looked at it closer.

Kai's face was so different from what he had seen so many times already. The boy had a goofy grin on his face as he bent over from Coles arm which was draped over his shoulders. He looked like he was their friend.

So? What happened?

Jay looked at the trophies and plaques, they had names he didn't know, one said Garmadon, and the biggest one said 'best team of the year' on it. Jay's mind whirled in thoughts.

What gives around here?

"What are you doing in here?" A rough voice scared the boy witless as it called the question unexpectedly, making him drop the picture.

"I-I-I-I" Wow, Jay, great vocabulary.

"I don't care about i's, just get out of here." The voice continued. Jay couldn't get a good look at the guys face, but he swore he'd seen it before. It had a squared outline in the dim light.

The voice wasn't seeming to friendly at the moment so Jay decided to stop playing detective for now and get the heck out of there.

So he did.

He ran out the door and flew down the field, not once looking back.

He'd think later, when his brain got back on it's track.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N) IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! Ok, maybe not that important, just a heads up really. This story may start to slow down, not sure yet, but I'm not entirely sure if it will be regularly updated every week. I might be forced to update irregularly because of circumstances out of my control. (cough, cough *grandparents visiting*cough cough)**

 **Yah, they hate technology and constantly bug me about it... so dad is banning computers for a while, that said I might have to sneak off with a fake homework project excuse to my friends house. But, anyway, I hope you like this chapter, I cracked myself up writing it!**

 **I hope you do too!**

 **Have fun!**

* * *

"I am not doing it." Pixal held her ground as her friend pulled her hardest on her arm.

"Come. On. Pixal!" Nya tugged with every word, "He's inside the computer lab. Nobody else stays that late except him! Just go. Ask already!" She yanked one last time resulting in both of them flying forward and landing through the computer labs door.

Zane looked up from his work, slightly surprised at their sudden entry.

Nya stood up abruptly and laughed, "Heh, sorry Zane. Welp, buh bye!" And she disappeared leaving behind only a cloud of dust in her shape.

Pixal would have liked to kill her for that. She was instantly aware of Zane's ice blue eyes on her. The younger girl nearly blanched underneath his calm stare. _Keep calm. Keep calm._

"Um, Hello Zane. How are you. . . health wise?" She tried to give him a polite smile.

Zane smiled back, "Well. Thank you."

Now came the awkward silence.

Pixal HATED the awkward silence.

"Well, good bye then." She turned hastily away, _just leave with dignity. Just leave with dignity._

"Um Pixal. A moment."

Her body screeched to a halt.

"Y-yes?"

Zane was standing much closer to her now. _Oh no! Was she blushing? She couldn't tell. What was she supposed to say. He seemed so calm. Did she look calm? She didn't feel calm._

"I was wondering, you have heard of the Fall Formal yes?"

Her heart flipped, "Y-yes."

"Well, I've never bothered with such things,"

Her heart sank, "Oh."

"But, perhaps." His words were slow, almost as if he was thinking each one over carefully, "Maybe just this once, I will go if,' His eyes connected with hers, "You would accompany me."

She nearly exploded!

"Oh, well, yes. Certainly. It would be an honor." She gave him her best restrained smile, "If that's what you wish."

He smiled back. Before she could process his actions he reached out, took her hand in his, bowed and kissed the top of it lightly.

She nearly stopped breathing at the gentlemanly gesture.

"I will see you later then."

She nodded slowly, looking at her hand in the most unintelligent way as he walked out.

Suddenly she felt like a real teenaged girl.

Oh. My. GOSH!

* * *

 _She didn't care._

 _She didn't care._

 _She didn't care._

Nope. She definitely did _NOT_ care in the least.

She bit her pizza harshly, her eyes never leaving Jay and that, _THAT_ , girl.

She didn't care. He could talk to anyone he wanted too.

She barely swallowed as Jay made her laugh.

Nope, didn't care in the least. So what if he spent nearly every lunch with her. So what if Nya hadn't ever bothered to find out who the heck that girl was.

So what if she was pretty, and from what Nya could see, charming. _So what_? Nya knew they couldn't eat lunch together, or talk like that out here. He was _her_ secret. Yah, and she was _his_. Yep. That was a leg up on that boy attracting little-

"Nya?"

The sound of her name cut through her vicious thoughts.

"Yes?" She turned towards Pixal, whose big green eyes looked at her worriedly.

"Your mumbling under your breath? And staring at Jay and his friends? Why?" The question was simple, yet it caught Nya completely off guard.

"Um. . . say Pixal? Who is THAT girl next to them?" Nya made her point by shifting her eyes towards that table.

Pixal looked and noticed Ashlyn, as she was laughing over something Jay had blabbered.

"You don't know?"

Nya shrugged, "Hello, new here."

Pixal smiled, "That's Ashlyn Hale. She's the first female Dragon racer in all the counties. A tough cookie as they call her. Also, according to most info, she's know Cole forever. I think longer then I have."

Nya thought this info over, "But. . . she seems to be really intimate with Jay." She couldn't hold back the sour look.

Pixal shrugged, apparently her extensive knowledge didn't reach to that point, "Maybe you should ask him before jumping to conclusions."

That wasn't Nya's first option, but, she decided it was better then letting jealousy get the best of her. She'd ask. _Later._

* * *

Jay took a deep breath as he made sure, one last time, nobody had followed him home. Yep, coast was clear. Good. Hey, call him paranoid all you want, but he planned to keep the world away from his home. If that was possible.

"Mom! I'm ho-whoa!" Jay tripped and went rolling onto the shaggy blue rug mid sentence.

He rolled over and saw his legs were draped over a big cardboard box.

"What gives?" He sat up dizzily just as his mother came humming into the room.

"Oh Jay sweetie, there you are. So glad your home. Here hold this." She shoved a sparkly banner in his hand, "Follow me would you."

Jay followed wordlessly.

He walked into the living room of their mobile home and nearly had a heart attack!

Balloons? Banners, flowers! A big Cake! Oh no! Oh god, no! This looked like. . . his mind refused to form the word even mentally.

"What? Jay are you all right?" His mother looked at his paling face, "Snookums'?"

"Mom! What's all this!" He nearly flipped.

She smiled excitedly, "Silly, this is-"

His brain processed the words in slow motion.

"A p. . .a. . .r. . .t. . .y!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

He practically shrieked, threw the banner in his hand down and ran to his room, slamming the door so hard the entire mobile home shook to its movable foundation.

Edna just stood there in silence, blinking at the space her son had occupied a second ago, the other side of the sparkly banner still in her hand.

"Well. . . that was . . . overacted."

* * *

He wanted to cry. That was it. That was all he wanted to do. Just cry, and cry, and cry! But he couldn't. no, he couldn't, he was Fifteen years old and way past tears. But that didn't mean he didn't want to.

Ho _w could they do this to him! How?! Why?! He was getting on so well! Except for the slight bully issue but otherwise, it was great! He was fitting in, and he had specifically went out of his own way to keep anyone from knowing where he lived. AND he had specifically said he did_ NOT WANT A FREAKIN' PARTY!

"Jay hon. Open up. I think there's something wrong here." His mother called through his thin door.

 _Yah, no duh there's something wrong here mom!_ He groaned inwardly.

"How could you do this to me Mom!" He shouted angrily.

"Do what jay?" His mother opened the door and looked at him, truly concerned now.

And confused.

"You know I didn't want a party. WHY would you go and plan one anyway?" He looked at her from his bed, anger still evident on his face.

A moment passed.

Suddenly her furrowed brow cleared.

Then...

She started laughing!

Jay couldn't believe it. His own mother, laughing at his evident distress.

"Oh, Jay Honey." She chuckled and wiped another tear away, "Silly, I know you didn't want a party. This isn't for you." She smiled widely, "Your fathers is throwing one for all his new friends he's met at work!"

Jay sat up, utterly speechless. That was NOT what he meant by not wanting a party.

"But Mom, don't you think. . . our house?" He fumbled over his words his stress levels falling a little.

She reached out and ruffled his auburn hair, "Silly Jay. Don't worry, nobody cares about the house, just the party." She took her sons hands and pulled him off his bed, "Now, how about you come and help us make it amazing!"

Jay just blinked.

His Mom waited expctiantly.

He sighed and got up, well at least none of his friends would find out. Maybe his parents having a party was ok.

"Ok, Mom." He tried to smile.

Hopefully it wouldn't get around about where they lived.

His mom's face brightened, she smiled and grabbed his hand, all but dragging him out of the room.

Jay made a silent prayer to himself that nothing horribly unexpected happened and went along with his excited mother.

* * *

His parents party was in full swing now. And so far Jay was ok with it. Everybody as old(well for him they were old) and nobody looked like they could be any of the people he knew parents.

So he started to relax, manning the drinks table and watched, staying out of the way so he wouldn't get asked the same kind of question every single adult asked a kid his age.

How's school? What collage are you planning on going too? How old are you? What job do you have in mind? Yadda yadda yadda.

Jay could do without the repetition.

He was starting to dose of against the wall. What? Watching grown ups talk really wasn't all that exciting.

Then he heard the worst thing in the entire universe.

"Jay?"

Yep, his name.

He jolted, yelped and fell face first on the floor. Instantly a sturdy hand grabbed his shoulder and helped him up.

"Jay, you ok?"

The poor boy couldn't believe who was standing next to him.

"Zane?" He gulped, shocked. Of all the people... how'd he get here anyway?

Zane smiled, "Thank goodness, for a minute there I thought I scared you wordless."

Jay shook his head. This was a bad dream. A nightmare. It wasn't real, it COULDN'T be real! Zane looked at his pale face confused, Gah! It was REAL!

"PLEASE DON'T TELL!" He instantly fell to his knees clasping his hands begging for everything he had.

Now Zane looked shocked, "Tell? Tell what?"

The blue eyed boy grabbed the taller teen around the knees, hugging them tightly, "If you tell, everything I've built for myself will be lost! aND then the hurting will never stop!" He was practically ing now, just thinking of all the bruises AND CUTS, AND NASTY WORD THAT HURT MORE THEN THE OTHER TWO COULD EVER HURT.

"I am sorry my friend but I still don't understand." Zane pried the younger boy off of himself and picked him up.

Jay groaned, "Don't tell that I live in a junk yard, please. If you do nobody will like me! Nya won't like me anymore, Kai will beat me up even worse and you Ash and Cole... won't want to hang out with a loser like this." He felt old stings come back.

Now Zane understood. He placed a comforting hand on Jay's slumping shoulder, "Jay. That's not true. Cole, Ashlyn and I wouldn't do that. Besides it's not where the person lives that matters at all. It's who he is. To real friends anyway."

Jay looked at him surprised, "For real? You mean it?"

Zane gave him an assuring smile, "Yes, for real."

Now Jay smiled, "Guess I never had real friends before."

"You do now." Zane draped an arm around the shorter boy.

Jay smiled bigger, "Wait..." Now he thought, "Why are you here?"

Zane shrugged, "My father was invited, he's an engineer, I suppose your dad knows him, so he let me tag along. I had no idea t was your father though."

Jay sighed, "So... I know it MIGHT not matter where I live, but could you, maybe, not say anything to anyone else?"

Zane nodded, understanding, "But you know, they'll want to know eventually."

"Yah... let's just make it a loooong eventually, ok."

"All right."

"Hey Zane?"

"Yes?"

"Want some punch?"

"Sure."

Jay smiled. He was glad he knew Zane.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N) Hey guys! So excited today, why you ask? Or don't ask... I'll tell you anyway! I just saw the newest episode of Ninjago season 5! I know right! Please keep your squealing to a minimal! People will think your crazy, screaming at a computer screen... Trust me.**

 **Anyway, I am proud to say it wasn't awful and character degrading as I expected because I was afraid to hope for anything else! As a matter of fact it was awesome! It had a certain bit of season one, and two! My hopes have soared! After that terrible fiasco starting form season 3 I think Ninjago writers have realized their terrible mistakes and are going to fix them! Such as the ninja's friendships coming closer, and Lloyd being evil! Can't get any awesome then THAT!**

 **But of course there is still that sense that it was only the first episode and we don't know how it will go... :-/ But here's hoping they keep on this track eh', maybe if we all hope together!**

 **Anyway, I'll shut up now, this Authors note is longer then the chapter JK**

 **Have fun ya'll, and pray for the future of Ninjago episodes!**

* * *

"Jay!" He heard his mother yell through his closed room door, "Honey, it's late, your going to be late for school!"

Jay shot up, _late for school?_

He looked at his alarm clock.

 _7:30! WHAT!_  
The 15 year old mentally panicked, his parents party had gone off longer then expected and he and Zane had spent a lot of time goofing off and watching movies in his room. Oh, yah, that's were all the empty soda cans had come from.

Jay tiptoed around the mess in his room, eh, he'd clean it later.

Right now he was panicking.

"Late, late, can't be late!" He quickly brushed, scrubbed, combed, dressed and ran out with a quick good bye.

"Got to get there before-"

RIIIIIINNNNG!

"shoot!" He ran faster.

* * *

"Mr. Walker, your late."

Jay stood in the door way panting, his hair mussed, his face red, barley breathing, no shit he was late. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his teacher.

"Sorry, got side tracked, um, a squirrel nearly stole my lunch." He lied as straight as he could. The class went up in a titter of laughter, Jay's face became brighter then it was.

The teacher glared at him, "A squirrel huh? Well then I am sure you can think about that comment later. In detention."

Jay mentally shot himself. _Twice._

"B-but!"

"No but's sir. If your going to lie at least make up a decent story. Now sit!"

Jay sat, trying to hide his burning face.

The teacher glared at him for a few more seconds, "Humph, a squirrel indeed."

Jay hated his life right now.

* * *

"A squirrel?" Cole raised a thick brow at the pouting teen next to him.

Jay refused to look at him, he bit his sandwich harshly and chewed angrily.

He had told his tale of woe to his so called friends. Excepting some sort of reassurance or words of comfort. What did he get? Ashlyn nearly laughing milk out of her nose. Zane biting his lip to KEEP from laughing, and Cole nearly choking on his French fries in disbelief, because he ALMOST started laughing.

Great, if he wanted to be laughed at he would have just told the rest of the school.

"Chill Jay," Ash smiled, "I'll tell you, that was a desperate attempt of a lie, but I'm sure it wasn't that bad."

"What part of 'I got detention for it' did you NOT understand?" Jay snapped irritated.

Ash shrugged, "The detention part." This got a chuckle out of both Zane and Cole.

Jay refused to be amused, "Forget it. See you guys tomorrow I guess."

"Why?" Cole asked swallowing some soda.

Jay looked at him steadily, "Because! I HAVE DETENTION! I won't get out until like 5 and you guys will be done with dragon practice by then and will all go home or whatever and I have to be all lonely loser and go home too."

Ashlyn smiled, "Or we could just wait for you and walk your loser self home." She quipped.

To all their surprise Jay turned pale at her words.

"N-no! It's ok guys, no big deal, no big deal at all. Um, gotta go!" He practically ran out of the lunch room.

Ash and Cole looked at each other confused.

"I don't get it? Why does he always freak out when we offer to walk him home?" The petit girl asked out loud.

Cole shrugged, "Beats me. Owned what could he be so afraid of?"

Zane stayed silently attracted to the other side of the lunch room wall.

* * *

Jay walked down the hall, his eyes glued to the tiled floor, trying to brush off the unsettling feeling he had in his gut. Maybe he should tell Cole and Ash. _But what if neither like him after that? Zane said it'll be ok. but I'm not to sure about it. What if-"_

"Mr. Walker?" A teacher called him, he stopped and turned.

 _Oops._

"Detention is this way." The teacher reminded him pointing into the room he had just walked past.

Jay sighed loudly and walked back.

Slowly he pushed through the door and gasped, nearly choking on his own spit.

Kai was sitting there with his feet on the desk he was sitting at.

The teacher was engrossed in a thick boring looking book. Jay felt the blood all rush to his head.

 _Dang it. Why'd he have to be so bad and get stuck here when I am!_

Kai looked at him like he was a piece of dead meat. Which, all thing considered, he might as well be.

"Take a seat Jay and stop staring like a fool, " The teacher commanded without looking up from his book.

What was with these guys today? It was like the entire universe was rigging all it's inhabitants to hate on him today... or everyday, but today seemed more then others.

Jay sat with a grimace as he felt Kai glare at him from behind. Deciding to ignore the bully by any means necessary, Jay shifted his eyes to the clock on the wall. If he tried really hard, sometimes he made the clock run forward faster with his eyes. _Don't laugh! It really worked._

But unfortunately, as he thought before, the universe was out to get him today so it took away his super power instead and made the clock go slower.

Jay groaned and slammed his forehead on the table.

He hated the universe right now.

* * *

"Poor Jay." Ashlyn muttered to nobody in particular as she lead her dragon into it's stable. Spark'l looked at her and snorted in soft agreement.

Ashlyn reached out and patted her dragons leathery purple colored nose, "Well, at least you get it." She grinned at Spark'l. No matter what, her dragon seemed to know how to answer her when she was alone. Maybe it was crazy, or maybe it was the lonely home girl inside, but she swore that Spark'l could understand what she said most of the time. Except when she was hungry, then that dragon went all out give 'me food or I'll hate you' mode. But still, best friend material for sure.

"See ya Zane."

Ashlyn's attention was caught by the familiar voice of Cole. She smiled to herself as she turned to see the tall young man walk in leading Rocky behind, with surprisingly some difficulty.

"Come. On! Jeez, what gives Rocky?" Cole pulled at his dragons reins trying to get him inside, "What's up with you today? First you refused to fly, then you refuse lunch, and know you don't want to go to your room?"

Rocky responded with a loud snort, dusty smoke flew out of his nostrils and into Coles face.

"Ugh, yuck! Man, Rocky, brimstone and dirt... seriously are there dragon breath mints for that?!" Cole staggered back and nearly tripped over his boots.

He succeeded in tripping over a large water bucket instead. Ashlyn Cringed as a loud crash against the rein shelf rang through the stable.

"Cole?" She quickly ran towards her fallen companion and laughed lightly when she found him, body askew with the now empty water bucket spinning on his head.

"Oh yah, that's one for the scrap book." She giggled as Cole slowly, peeved, raised the bucket up from his eyes, glaring at her.

"Thanks for the support Ash." He snapped at her actually pouting.

Ashlyn laughed even more, because there was nothing funnier, or cuter, then Cole pouting, "Aw come on big baby." She leaned forward and took the bucket off his head, gracing him with a smile.

Cole looked up and couldn't help smiling back, "Big baby huh?" With a quick jump he was on his feet and encasing Ashlyn, against her will, in a huge bear hug.

Ashlyn exaggeratedly shrieked then laughed as he lifted her up and twirled her around, forgetting about his dragon for the moment.

"Cole! Cut it out!"

"Or what?" He laughed, putting her down.

She yanked herself away from him, laughter twinkled in her eyes, "Or I'll... what's the problem with Rocky?" She turned her attention to the dragon without finishing her threat.

Cole looked at his moody dragon and sighed, "I don't know! It's like he hates me today or something... which doesn't seem possible."

Ashlyn leaned over to the dragon and looked to see if anything physical was wrong, "Nope, looks as scaly as ever... maybe he's got a cold?" She threw that one out there.

Cole looked at her funny, "A dragon? With a cold? Seriously?"

Ash shrugged, "Just a thought, but maybe we should tell Garmadon, just in case. Can't have a sick dragon if we're going to win the finals."

Cole's heart skipped a beat, _Sick dragon? His Rocky sick?! No! No, no, no, no, not going to happen!_

He grabbed Ashlyn's hand, "Let's go!" And flew out the stable with her in tow.

* * *

". . . And I don't know why!" Cole was near panic by now as he and Ashlyn stood in front of Garmadon practically blurting out the problem.

Garmadon looked at the two distraught teens carefully, "If Rocky is indeed sick... and he doesn't get better by the finels." He left that sentence hanging, "I will call the dragon vet immediately, as for you two, I think it would be best if you headed home." He gave them apologizing looks.

Ashlyn nodded and took Cole by the arm, "See ya Mr. Garmadon, Say hi to Misako and Lloyd for me." She smiled as she practically dragged the much bigger, much heavier boy out of the office.

"Don't worry Cole, I will see to it that Rocky gets better.'" Garmadon smiled after the young man.

Cole nodded before Ahslyn yanked him out of the room completely.

"You know, you really need to get a smaller pet." She looked up at Coles' downcast face as they walked out of the school ground.

Cole didn't answer.

The petit girl sighed, "Ok then. Come on, let's get you home before you become suicidal over a dragon." She tried to lighten his mood, but he refused to smile.

She knew he loved his dragon, she did too, but maybe Cole's attachment went further because of his lack of family comfort. At least she had her dad. Sure her brother was a pain in the butt, but dad was usually there to make her feel better about things, when he was home anyway.

She slipped her small hand into his larger one and gave it a gentle squeeze. Cole lifted his eyes to her and gave her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

Ashlyn smiled back, then something caught her eye. Or _someone_ did anyway. She turned to see Jay walking out of the school with a dark cloud over his head. Well, that the what the look on his face seemed to create. He started walking down the side walk in the opposite direction. Ashlyn looked after him intreasted, as he looked from side to side.

Then, an idea popped into her head. It wasn't a good one, but it wasn't a terrible one either.

"Hey, Cole, what say we find out where Mister Jokes lives?"

Cole looked up and saw Jay too, "I don't know Ash... what if he doesn't want us to know for a reason."

Ashlyn rolled her eyes, "Like we'd care where he lived. His still Jay either way." She pulled on his hand.

"Come on."

Cole sighed, well, at least this would get his mind for of Rocky for a little while, "Ok, but quiet."

Slowly they tip toed from a safe distance. The watched him take a turn down a poorer side of the street. Without a word the followed Jay across the street, around a bend, down a broken road, and seemingly to the outskirts of this neighborhood.

They stopped to hid behind a car as Jay turned and walked through a metal wire fence.

The black haired teens glanced at each other, clearly confused. The peaked at the sign, 'Ed and Edna's Scrap' n junk'?

 _What was Jay doing at a junk yard?_

"Oh hello there!" Ash and Cole gasped and let out a surprised yelp in different pitches. They jumped around and saw an elderly man in oil stained overalls walk towards them, a cheerful smile on his face.

"Are you young people here for something special?" He asked as if there was nothing weird about two teens crouching behind a car suspiciously.

"I um, we, uh-" Cole stuttered still confused.

"We, no-um, we were just walking by and got- Lost?" Ashlyn finished lamly.

The older man tapped his chin, "Are you people from Jay's school? Are you friends of his?!" He asked suddenly becoming excited.

Before either teen could answer the man grabbed both their arms and dragged them into the junk yard, "Oh boy, oh howdy, won't Jay be excited to see friends here!"

Ash looked surprised, Cole looked confused.

What gives?

The man dragged them across the junk yard lot and up to a mobile home, he burst through the door, "Hon! We got some visitors! They say their Jay's friends!"

Neither dark haired teen could remember saying anything.

A woman with tightly pulled back hair burst forth with happy squeals, "Oh my stars, how nice! Won't Jay be happy to see you!"

Ashlyn wasn't so sure about that. _If this is where he lives then these guys must be his. .. parents_... She watched the two grown ups flutter around excitedly, _well that explained so much..._

"Jay!" The woman called loudly.

Jay's voice answered from a closed room ,"What Ma!"

Cole noticed he sounded like he had a bad day. He felt guilty now because he was pretty sure Jay didn't want them to know about this place and they followed him home, well, that wasn't a very nice thought.

"You have visitors."

The mobile home fell silent as they all waited. No sound from Jay's room. Cole and Ash became nervous. _What would Jay do when he saw them?_

The door creaked open slowly, "Visitors... but I can't, nobody knows where..." The blue eyes widened as he caught sight of Cole and Ash. His face paled.

Ashlyn giggled sheepishly and waved weakly, "Um, hi Jay... Fancy meeting you here."

Cole face-palmed himself...


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N) OK good news, I managed to escape for a slumber party! Yay me! Now my only problem with this is my friend breathing down my neck trying to read everything I'm typing,**

 **To friend: Yes you! Don't give me that look.**

 **She's so impatient, can't wait to read this thing when I post it like every one ELSE IN THE WORLD! *Glares***

 **I hope it's fun for you guys. My friend sure got a kick out of it.**

 **Note: Have you ever had emotional stress and worry that makes you act out of character and feral angry? If you have then the beginning of this chapter should be understandable. If not then... you'll just think Nya's nuts. o.O**

 **HAVE FUN!**

 **p.S) I've noticed how many reviews I have and I am actually surprised! Surprised and please :-) I thank everyone who contributed, I love seeing my inbox filled with reviews and raves.**

 **How's about you guys do a poor author a favor and give me eight reviews before the next chapter! That would be a dream come true! Can you guys do it? I mean it shouldn't be hard right? There's like hundreds of you reading and not reviewing... so just a word or two!**

 **Thanks so much!**

* * *

Nya stood in front of her bedroom mirror looking at her fourteen year old self critically. Her face was too sharp, her hair too straight and plain, her eyes too boring a color. She bit her lip, _no wonder Jay turned to that other girl_. Nya sighed. She hadn't talked to the boy for a week.

And whenever she did catch a glimps of him he would be with either that tall boy, Cole, and or that girl.

 _Ashlyn._

Nya wrinkled her nose in disgust. Or was that jelousy? She refused to admit that to herself. She'd never been jealous of another girl before.

But then she never had a real crush on a boy as cute as Jay.

His image flashed in her memory. He was cute, still a little on the short side. Not really developed muscle wise. His blue eyes twinkled with endless fun, his dimples accented his red-brown hair so nicely. She sighed, he was adorable.

And he liked to wear her favorite color.

The black haired girl flopped on her flowery bed with a grating sigh.

Sometimes she wondered if she should have accepted the offer to skip to high school. She might not be emotionally ready for it. Nya prided herself on her mental maturity, but when it came to physical and emotional... she was pretty behind.

 _Not like Ashlyn_. She thought bitterly, _that girl had pretty good curves for her age. She was definitely earlier a bloomer then Me._ This made Nya hate herself and Ashlyn even more.

 _Pixal said to talk to Jay first before I jump to conclusions._

Y _es, but he's always hanging out with that girl, so doesn't that just prove your suspicion that you want to talk to him about?_

 _Yah, no, maybe their just friends. You know, she is in the dragon racing team..._

 _And I'm not._

Another strike against her.

Nya threw her pillow over her face and pounded it with her fists.

 _I hate life!_

She heard a loud bang coming from the front door.

Kai was home.

Her thoughts took a nasty turn on her brother when she realized, _Jay could probably be hanging out with me if it wasn't for him. Why does he have to ruin my life like he did his own!?_

She growled angrily when she heard him yell for her.

Quickly she jumped off her bed and ran to the kitchen to give him a piece of her mind!

She found her brother, halfway inside the fridge.

"Hey Nya, what's for dinner." He spoke carelessly, unaware of her seething expression.

That's all he ever asked her about.

Never 'hey sis how was your day? Can I help with anything?' Noooo, he was always such a self centered jerk.

Nya squashed the thoughts that tried to argue otherwise. Right now she wanted to be mad at him.

"Nothing." She spat.

Kai stopped, and actually pulled himself straight. He must have heard her underlying anger, he quirked a scarred eyebrow at her, "Say again?" His voice was level, the impatient fire in his eyes slowly simmering. Waiting. To see what she would do.

Oh, he wanted a fight. She was going to give him more then he could handle.

"I said NOTHING!" She repeated louder, "You'll make it yourself if you want something!" Now she felt her anger dominate her rational side completely.

"Excuse me, but is there a reason why your acting like a bitch?" He hissed, his impatient growing more. He'd had a crappy day and he was NOT in the mood for his stupid little sisters sudden mood swings.

That was it.

That word sent her reeling.

She exploded!

Anything and everything in her reach flew with dangerous precision at Kai. Blind anger causing her to ignore the aftermath of throwing dishes at him.

Kai was actually surprised at this. Nya had reacted pretty loudly at his insults in the past. But never this... animalistic before.

It wasn't until she physically threw herself at him did he fight back.

"Nya! What the hell!" He yelped as she clawed at his shirt. He could see the anger waning, tears were forming in her eyes now. The heck?

"It's all your fault!" She screeched, "I can never do anything because of you! Why did I get a curse like you for!?" She was crazy now, her hair straying in every direction. She felt the anger running off, leaving emotional hurt behind.

She was clutching at his hair when her body stilled.

She broke down. And for some reason she didn't remember the reason she was mad at him... why again?

Her face crumpled and she let go of his hair slipping down on his lap and curling against his body, burying her face in his red hoodie.

Kai sat there. His little sister crying in his lap. Wasn't she just trying to beat the crap out of him? Man, girl hormone levels were usually crazy, but this one... He awkwardly became aware that she was still clinging to him. Her body shaking against his.

Aw hell no! He was NOT used to this. He wasn't the 'make you feel ok' type brother. He was the 'I don't give a crap' type brother. He hadn't hugged her since... that time...

He bit his lip hard, nearly drawing blood. Was he so cold hearted to the point that he would just throw her off and insult her...?

"It'll be ok Nya. Whatever the hecks wrong I'm pretty sure it's no big deal." He wrapped an arm around her still small frame.

Guess he wasn't. Crap, he was going to hear it later...

* * *

"More sugar dear?"

"Thank you Mrs. Walker." Ashlyn smiled politely accepting another cube in her steaming cup of tea.

Jay was sitting on the couch opposite of her and Cole, glaring daggers at his parents.

Ash found this kind of amusing. Cole found it awkward.

He could tell Jay was furious they had followed him home. But he wasn't able to talk to them because of his parents insisting they stayed for tea.

Jay nearly fainted when he saw them an hour ago. Now he just wanted to disappear.

"I tell you, you two are the first kids Jay's invited over." Ed smiled happily, "Accept that tall white haired fella."

Tall white haired Fella? Cole raised a thick black brow at this.

Ashlyn flashed a knowing look at him, which he shared.

Zane.

Jay caught both their looks and slumped even more. Dang it! Why was today so stupid?

"Well Jay's a very good friend." Ashlyn smiled again, "It would be a shame if we didn't visit him." Her eyes twinkled mischievously at Jay.

His mother found this charming, "Aren't you a lovely young lady. Say, are you and Jay going out?" She chirped.

Jay's eyes widened. Cole choked mid sip of his tea. Ashlyn bit her lip, trying hard not to laugh.

"N-no. Mom!" The blue eyed boy squeaked out, "It's not like that. Oh Jeez." He slumped further in his seat.

His mother looked at him then at the other two, "Oh... so just a friend then?"

Ash nodded, her choppy black hair shifting as she did, "Yah. But I don't know. I thought we were pretty good friends." She sent Jay a pointed look, "Guess maybe just acquaintances."

She sipped her tea.

Jay sighed uncomfortably, "Hey Mom, Dad!" He blurted out, "I'm gonna show these guys our junk yard m'kay!"

Before either parent could answer Jay swooped his friends by the arms and dragged them out of the house. He took them well out of ear shot from the mobile home.

Finally, he turned them behind a huge pile of discarded car engines. The he turned to them, the question burning in his face.

Ash and Cole looked at each other then him.

Cole cleared his throat first, "So... Jay..." He drawled awkwardly.

"There, now you guys know!" Jay burst out suddenly, "Happy. Here it is, my home, go ahead, laugh! Ha ha, so funny, Jay the king of the junk yard."

The dark haired teens were surprised by his sudden un-Jay like out burst.

"Jay were aren't-"

"Was it too much to just leave this part out!" Jay cut Ash off, "Seriously, this is why everyone picked on me before. It's not fair! Zane said you guys would still be my friends... but seriously, let's get real here." Jay's lower lip actually trembled, "Who wants to be friends with a junk yard kid."

Ash punched him. Hard.

Cole choked on air at the sudden impact. Jay was so surprised he didn't even feel the stinging in his arm.

"Shut up!" Ash's amethyst colored eyes glared angrily at him, "Listen to yourself Jay! I don't know what hell you came from but we aren't like it." She ran a small hand through her thick hair, "If we didn't want you around anymore, do ya think we'd have stayed for tea! You think if we were Jerks we'd still even be here!" She turned away, hurt flashing in her eyes for a second.

"And her I thought you were cool." She muttered under her breath.

Cole thought it'd be best to speak up now, "Jay, What Ash means is, we like you. Why would we care where you live? Do you really think so little of us kid?"

Now Jay felt guilty. Horribly guilty. He was just so afraid because of past experiences that he didn't stop to consider how different these guys were. Maybe because he'd never had a real friend... He didn't know the traits of those kinds.

"Guys." He looked at them apologetically, "Wanna come back inside and have some brownies?"

Cole lit up instantly, "Heck yah!"

Ash smiled lightly, "Sure. And don't you EVER forget! Where your friends, no matter what."

Jay grinned his usual bright grin at her, "And to think, I used to be afraid of you. But Dang-" He winced, rolling his arm gingerly, '"You punch good."

This time Ashlyn laughed out loud.

* * *

Explaining to her father why she was sweeping broken glass was very difficult to do.

Kai ended up saying it was because he mad her mad. Nya was actually surprised he'd spoken up like that. He hadn't done that in years. Back when... they had a mother, that's when he would do that. They'd get into all sorts of mischief, but then... He drifted away and pretty soon he was just some annoying male living in the same house as her.

Knowing that her big brother was still in there deep down inside made her see hope for the future. Maybe all he needed was a hand in climbing out of whatever hole he'd put himself in.

Now if only she could get him close enough to like Jay...

Thinking of Jay...

She bit her lip and looked at her phone. Fighting with her will for a moment she made up her mind, finished up the mess and went to her room.

Quickly she dialed Pixal and waited. _Come on, pick up before I lose nerve_... she huffed impatiently. One ring. Two. Five.

"Answer already!" She yelled into her phone angrily.

"Um... hello?"

Nya colored, whoops, "Um, Hey Pix... what's up?"

She heard the platinum blond laugh, "You tell me. You called."

Nya chuckled nervously, "Um right, well... Um, I don't suppose you know if your friend, Cole? Knows Jay's phone number..." She trailed off slightly.

She could practically see Pixal's brow furrow in thought, "I actually never asked."

Nya's heart fell, "Oh ok then... never mind I'll just-"

"Nya? Is this about Ashlyn and Jay still?"

 _How'd she know!?_

"Um...Y-yes?" It sounded unsure now.

Pixal sighed into the receiver, "Just talk to him." She stated simply, like it was the most obvious thing to do.

 _Actually. It was._

"Ok-ok, just let me clear my head up. I'll see you tomorrow." With hat the young girl hung up.

She buried her face in her pillow, _Why was the world so complicated now._


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N) I am having some week. First my grandparents came and banned me from technology. THEN I escaped for two days last weekend. Then my grandfather got sick, then we had to rush him to the hospital and by WE it meant ME and my dad. We stayed over night, I didn't sleep, and the only thing that was on were reruns of some weird soap opera thingy, I don't even know. Finally we got home, I looked like crap and my parents left me home to go to Walgreens for some meds. That wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't for my grandmother AND annoying little sister. She's at that stupid age where she think the world revolves around her. Ugh!**

 **To make things worse my grandma was complaining about gas and how lunch wasn't good enough for her. She gets in these kinds of old lady moods sometimes. I didn't get a wink of sleep and my friends were being annoying texting me.**

 **But then I watched episode 48 and 49 cuz I fell behind. At first I was all like yah! Then... did you SEE WHAT THEY DID TO MY COLE! Not gonna say what just in case whoever is reading this hasn't seen it yet. It was awesome until then and the way they played it out, broke my heart!**

 **It had it's fun worthy moments though.**

 **So not even Ninjago made me feel better, if anything I cried! Man, they better fix that! I don't care how girly that sounds. Anyway, it'll be cool for a while, just so long as they reverse it.**

 **So yah, crappy week, sorry to spill my useless feeling on you guys but it makes me feel better.**

 **Hope this chapter isn't too sappy. I was feeling sappy when I wrote it.**

 **P.S. I thank every single one of you who gave me my eight review mark! You guys actually did it! THAT made my week bearable, also the reason why I squirmed and pinched to write this chapter. You guys - it, it just... it almost made me cry! It was so nice of you, and my story has 41 reviews now! I've never gotten forty-something reviews on anything! I am so grateful for that. Thanks so much. To everyone. Made me feel like a worthy writer. And for those guest reviewers that I can't answer thanks so much for your inputs and advice. Glad you love my story and OC. Honestly I was afraid everyone would hate her! And that would have made me sad because I can already see her as a lego mini figure ;-)**

 **Have fun!**

* * *

She knew she shouldn't do this.

But she had to!

She shouldn't. . . but she was anyway.

 _Aw, screw it all!_

Ashlyn bound up the well trimmed lawn and pushed the doorbell on the heavy oak door. It rang in it's unusual harmonized singing of 'welcome' The first time she heard it she cracked up, but now she'd heard it so much it barley registered inside her brain anymore, besides she was too anxious at the moment.

She'd been here hundreds of times. So why should this time be any different? _Because their relationship is straining, that's why. ._ .

Inside a piano was playing until she knocked. Then it came to an abrupt stop. She bit her small lip and waited.

The door unlocked and swung open slowly.

A man, in his late forties, with a well trimmed face, a small lip mustache and greying combed back hair opened the door and looked out on her.

His face was wrinkled in confusion until he saw her. Then he gave her a small reserved smile.

"Hello Ashlyn dear. Haven't seen you here in a while. How can I help you?" He smiled reservedly.

She rubbed her arms awkwardly, "Hey Mr. Hunter. . . Cole - Home?" The small girl asked slowly, unsure of what his reaction might be.

Nothing on his face changed. He still smiled at her, "Yes he is, upstairs." He stepped asides so she could walk in.

Ash did and gave him a small smile before rushing up the polished steps.

 _Man, why the heck was that so awkward? It had never been awkward before. ._ .

She walked down the pine scented hallway, Cole live in a bigger house the anyone else she knew. His dad worked a lot and yet somehow managed to always keep the hardwood floors shiny and the house smelling like new. It made her marvel really.

She walked down the well lit hall, her feet clicked on the floor. Automatically she turned and opened the only door that was painted silver in the whole house. All the others were soft egg shell- that's what Cole's dad called them anyway.

She didn't even bother knocking, just slipped in and closed the door.

Cole's room. . . was the opposite of the entire house. But it had a nice lived in feel to it, comfortably messy.

It was a pretty well sized room. He had a two person bed draped with a black comforter with purple and blue geometric shapes embroidered on it. His closet and drawers were usually lacking in clothes because they were thrown around on top of them or on top of anything else. He had two dark green bean bags in either corner and a shaggy white rug splattered on the dark wood floor. Pictures of dragons, performers, and a couple of dance majors littered his grey and white walls.

She liked his space.

"Cole?" Her eyes narrowed trying to find the older boy in the array. She spotted him in the far corner of the room behind his couch.

 _Huh?_

"Hey Cole, you ok?"

He didn't move.

Ok, now he was freaking her out. _Shoot!_ She ran towards him, fear gripping her heart, afraid of what she would see behind that couch. _he wasn't. . . he couldn't have. . . he wouldn't!_

Her eyes flashed intense horror when he looked up, then they washed over with pure relief when she saw he was perfectly fine. Then. . . she kicked him.

"Ow! Hey, what the crud?!" He glared at her, propping himself up.

She glared back, "What are you doing!?" She bit back, "I thought you'd. . ." She stopped herself before she exposed her fear.

Cole studied her for a minute then a small smile formed on his face, "Ash. . . that little belief in me?"

She glared harder, "Shut up. The way you've been acting lately? With your dad, dragon, collage fights. . . what did you expect!" She was angry now, actually worried, but she covered it with angry.

Cole chuckled at her, a low rumbling sound in his chest. She hated it when he did that. It always gave her goosebumps.

"I'm ok. Thanks." He stood up and looked down at her soured face.

It was amusing really. So young. Still had the knowlage to worry like that though.

His face fell now. He remembered why he was back there.

"Ash?" Cole's trace of humor vanished. She looked at him more confused now.

 _What's up now?_

Before she could ask out loud he suddenly enveloped her in a tight hug, pulling her to his chest before falling backwards on the couch.

Ashlyn blinked for a second then pushed back slightly. His arms loosened as he looked at her.

"Cole? Are you sure your ok?"

He sighed, she could feel it come from inside.

"No. Look." He handed her a crumped application form. She read it quickly and saw the words in red "Accepted'.

"To what?"

"The Marty Upinhiemer School of Performing Arts." He said blandly, seemingly hating the words, "Or MUSPA, for short." he frowned at that with distaste.

"Oh. . ." Now she got it, "Cole, Maybe it won't be so bad. . . I bet if you really tried-"

"What? Tried to dance, sing, act? Something?! Make my self look like an idiot over and over and over again!" He pushed her off and stood up, pacing angrily now.

She sat there with her hand folded, looking at him critically.

"I can't sing or dance Ash! Dad's been trying with me for years. . . he refuses to accept that the only son he has. . . is a complete disappointment." He looked pained. Genuinely hurting right now.

As far as she knew, she was the only one he'd ever shown hurt to. Cole prided himself in his toughness and ability to keep straight, to hide his problems and feelings behind a hard armor. But sometimes. . . sometimes even the strongest break. Cole rarely showed distress or sadness or hurt. . . but when he did, it was like she could feel it right along with him.

 _Just like now_.

"I've tried Ashlyn. You know I have, and every time," He ran an hand through his shaggy hair, "I fail, it only hurts more to see Dad's face. Then, it hurts twice as much how he _keeps_ trying with me. Doesn't want to give up on me. He doesn't get how bad that makes me feel when I can't do it."

If she wasn't paying close attention she would have missed it when he ran a rough fist over his glistening eyes,

He wouldn't cry. Cole didn't cry. He'd never cried, not since his mother died when he was twelve. He was too strong to cry.

But even the strongest things break. . . .

Before anything else happened she jumped up and wrapped her arms around his torso, holding on for anything.

Cole fisted his hands on the back of her shirt before both lost balance and went tumbling on the bed. Ash fell between his legs, her face buried in his shoulder, he curled one leg under her so she was sitting on it. Covering his face in the soft crook of her neck.

Any other time the position they were in would have been weird. But right now neither gave a crud.

* * *

Nya stared at the stupid poster. She really, really wanted this. So badly. She'd always dreamed of finding someone to go to a dance with. And she found him... but he found somebody else.

 _So? Technically, she hadn't found him?_

Ugh! If only she could find him! She didn't know his phone number. She didn't know where he lived! She didn't even know his e-mail at least!

 _So. . . does that mean we aren't made for each other?_

 _Stop being stupid._

 _No seriously though, how am I supposed to talk to him if I can't even reach him._

 _Look harder?_

 _Thanks._

Then, luck of all lucks, she saw him! He was coming out of the grocery store with an older woman.

Nya forgot to be carful and ran as fast as her body could to him.

"JAY!" She nearly killed him in the death hug she gave.

"N-Nya?!" The boy looked at her bewildered, forgetting he was holding eggs.

"Aw! Who's this sugar plum?" The woman squealed.

Jay turned a shade of red, "Um... Mom, This is Nya. Nya, Mom." He introduced quickly, "Nya? what are you doing here though?" His blue eyes darted around making sure Kai wasn't lurking somewhere.

Nya giggled, she was so happy to see him she forgot why she was looking for him.

"Oh yah! Um, Can I have a minute with you?"

Jay looked at his mother. She took the hint.

"Ok then son, you have a nice time there, I'll see you back at home!" And she rushed away jittery.

"Nice mom you have there." This confused her slightly. _Why didn't Jay talk about his parents?_ She seemed nice enough.

"Yah... You ok Nya? This is kinda blunt."

She looked at him, "Oh yah um... it's Saturday so..." She drawled. She meant to ask him about Ashlyn, really. But maybe now wasn't the time.

Jay looked confused, "And?"

She huffed lightly, "Wanna go out!" She blurted suddenly. _What?!_ She was tired of waiting.

Jay took a step back. Fear splashing on his face, "W-with you? O-out? Uh... Wow, where'd the sun come from um, heh." He was at a loss for words.

 _What about your psycho older brother_ is what was running through his mind.

Nya knew it, "Don't worry Kai's got other things to vandalize besides your cute face." Jay blushed harder, "So... Yes? Or no?"

"Sure?" He drawled out slowly.

Nya's face lit up, "Great! See you at seven!" She turned to leave.

"Wait!" Jay stopped her, "Where? At seven?"

"Oh... Forgot about that part, um... smoothie shop? We can either hang out there or, you could come up with something else." She grinned excitedly.

Jay nodded, "Ok, meet you at the smoothie shop." And just like that he'd dug himself into an even bigger hole. . .

* * *

Ash headed down the stairs. Cole fell asleep about half an hour ago and she figured he needed it. Come to think of it, it looked like he hadn't sleep in a while. _Hum, he hides it really well at school._

She shuffled down the stairs, a sweet violin solo reached her ears. She sighed, remembering when Cole was the one practicing that a long time ago. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs that memory flashing in her head.

" _Mr. Hunter! Is Cole home!" She was a little thing of eleven. Her hair had been longer then and her face a little rounder. She was really, really short too. But her tough little personality didn't make her ideal pickings for bullies. Plus, Cole wouldn't let anyone hurt her anyway._

 _"Ah, Ashlyn, Hello sweetie, how is your dear father?" Ever polite Father._

 _Ash smiled she had gap in her front teeth then, "Good thanks."_

 _"Col's in the den, violin time you know. Go on in." He ushered her into the room ,"I'll get some lemon honey tea for you."_

 _She smiled and when inside, hitching her jeans, they had been too big for her._

 _"Cole?" She pocked her head into the room where she found her friend he was fourteen then, pretty tall for his age, but still fitting into his developments_.

 _He had his eyes screwed shut, sitting stick straight on the backless stool, his face frowning into concentration, as he laid the bow on the cords._

 _He hit the wrong cord._

 _Ashlyn winced, but stayed silent._

 _He grumbled something under his breath before starting over._

 _Finally he got the right cords in the right order and played his gentle little song all the way to the end. It sounded amazing to her._

 _"That was awesome!" She gushed, catching his attention._

 _He put his violin down and stood up stretching, "Thanks Ashy, I've been practicing all week!" He cracked his spin comfortably._

 _Ash wrinkled her nose at the nickname, "Don't call me that. And it sounded cool."_

 _Young Cole flexed his fingers, a triumphant smile played on his lips. Until his father walked in._

 _Tray in hand he looked at his son, confused, "Son? Why did you stop?"_

 _Cole looked at his father, unsure what to say._

 _"I counted twenty mistakes. You still have a lot of practicing to do. Come on, get to it."_

 _Ash looked at Cole, her amethyst eyes widening in her little face. She saw the hurt and disappointment flash in her older friends eyes, though it never reached his face._

 _"Yes father." He mumbled hanging his head._

 _"Good then." He looked at Ashlyn now, "Would you like some tea and cookies dear?"_

 _She shook her head, "Not today . I um... I'm going to go to the -park." She cast an apoligetice look at her friend, "Maybe Cole could come with-"_

 _"After he finishes his violin lesson, clarinet solo, and waltz practice." Mr. Hunter stated simply._

 _Cole let an inaudible sigh pass his lips. Ashlyn only noticed it because of his shoulders raising and falling._

 _"Ok then. See ya Cole." She waved lightly before turning out._

"Ashlyn?"

Ash snapped out of her reminisce and looked at the much older man now. _How long have I been standing here?_

"Are you all right?" He asked her concerned, his face looked tired. Almost more then Coles, as if he hadn't been sleeping well either.

"Yes. Sorry, I... um, I'll be going now. Bye Mr. Hunter." She curtsied and practically ran out the door.

 _Maybe if Cole could get back to dancing and music he'd be better off. Maybe if he and his father compromised._

She sighed as thick clouds formed over head.

 _Maybe, if the world worked that easily we would all be having dominant peace right now._

She was jostled out of her bitter thoughts as a figure in a dark hood shoved past her.

Ash glared back, "Hey! Watch were your going! Or at least say excuse me." She called after.

The figure just hunched over and kept walking until it rounded the next street corner.

Ashlyn shook her head. _Some people..._

* * *

Jay shuffled his feet nervously. He was dressed in a nice pinstripe button down shirt. It was the shade of his eyes, his jeans fit in he supposed. He hope he looked ok. _I mean how embarrassing would it be if your first date your showed up looking like your mom dressed you._

He'd avoided that as much as he humanly could.

 _But she did throw in the shiny shoes at the last minute. Gah! I look like a total dork! He started freaking out internally_. He shoved his hands in his pockets irritable with himself.

A crinkly thing inside his pocket caught his attention.

He pulled it out, it was the Dragon Racers tryout poster... or what was left of it. He must have forgotten to take it out before his mom washed these pants. And she didn't check.

He remembered now. _Boy if only I could try out. Pffft, mom and dad would have a heart attack. Besides. . . I don't even have the guts_.

He sighed looking at the washed poster sadly. The tryouts were this weekend. _Six days to be precise._

 _If only I could fly and -_

"Hey Jay!"

Jay screamed in the most girly way possible.

Nya stared at him like he'd grown a second head.

 _Great, now I've totally crushed any chance I had of dating her!_

Then she burst out laughing!

Jay couldn't believe it, _she's laughing at me? This could be good or bad. So which is it?_

"That was cute!" She managed to say between giggles, "Sorry I scared you, you looked so into whatever." She smiled warmly at him.

"Oh, Hah,'" He chuckled nervously, "Sorry. Um... Just got distracted. Ready?" He took a deep breath and gave her his hand.

She smiled, "I wouldn't be here if I wasn't." She laughed and took it.

Jay mentally flipped over the moon. _Man, I hope I'm not sweating!_

Oh who was he kidding. Of course he was sweating. Hopefully she wouldn't notice.

"Let's go!" He tried to sound confidant and upbeat.

 _What if she hates where I take her?! He thought horrified. I'm not rich! I can't afford a fancy joint, not yet!_ Ten buck in his back pocket wasn't going to go far.

 _Dang it!_

 _I hope she likes milkshakes. ._ . .


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N) Ok don't be upset but this chapter was really hard to write and it ended up really short. It's come to my attention that this story might be getting boring? I don't know maybe. Can you guys tell me? I really don't know what you though of the last chapter. Only one person reviewed and. . . not that I'm not grateful for it, but not getting anything else kind made me feel like nobody liked the last chapter, which is sad because I worked really hard on it... plus I wanted some feedback on Ashlyn's growing character. Is it growing? I'm not sure.**

 **Well, I'm rambling now... sorry. Anyway, this chapters short. I hope you still like it. It took a lot to write just this.**

 **Have fun!**

* * *

Jay watched as Nya slurped the last bit of her strawberry Milkshake down. he'd made an effort to take her to a burger shop down the street so it would at least look different from their usual smoothie joint. She hadn't said anything negative so. . .

 _I guess it's working out ok._

Truth was, he'd never been out on a date before. Like Ever. All the girls at his old school joined in to bulling. They pretty much either pitied him or just ignored him. He didn't want either. He wanted to be liked because he was him. Not because. . . whatever other reasons there where.

Nya seemed to like him for real though. _That's a good thing. I think._

Nya smiled at him from across the pink shiny plastic table, "So, how's things." She drawled casually.

Jay shrugged, scooping at his Sunday, "Don't know, have an English report coming up. Not to excited about that."

"Yah? What're you gonna do it on?"

"Not sure yet." _Ugh! This is killing anything that helpful. You sound so. . . awkward and old! Say something cool dang it!_

He leaned over on the table, going to attempt a flirt, before he caught Nya's shifting her eyes.

"Something wrong?"

She looked at him startled, "Um. . . no-no, nothings wrong, I just um . . ." She pushed her straight bangs back from her pink face.

Jay raised his scarred eyebrow at her, "Uhum, Sooooo?"

She let out a groan and covered her face with her hands, getting a surprised look from him, "Ugh! I'm sorry. I'm a horrible person!" Her voice came muffled.

"What?"

She let her hand fall from her face, She sniffed. Jay freaked internally.

 _What'd I do! Oh gosh, if her brother sees she's cried and finds out I DID IT! Man, and I was looking forward to collage_!

"Nya? please, please tell me what's wrong?" _So I can live longer and not die at the hands of your brother_ , "Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry if this restaurant-"

"No." She sniffed harder, wiping her eyes, "I'm just sorry. Here I am making you go out with me like some brat and you're probably just too nice to turn me down. Even if you already have somebody." She muttered that last part, but Jay still caught it.

He shot her a confused look, "What? Your not a horrible person. I wanted to go out with you." He felt a blush creep up his face, "For a long time. I was just afraid of... your brother, kinda." He shrugged sheepishly.

She looked at him now, her big brown eyes watery, "But that other girl. I heard you ask her out."

"What other girl?" He was really confused now, "I don't know any other girls except you, and Ash, and my mom and-" Realization dawned on him, "Ash? Are you talking about Ashlyn?"

She nodded, unable to hold her sour expression at bay, "She's really pretty, and pretty cool. And you do spend a lot of time with her. . . A lot and-"

"No!" Jay laughed now, _oh if Ash could hear this now! She'd probably fall over and die laughing._

"She's my friend!" He chuckled as Nya stared at him unsure of what he was talking about yet, "She-we barley even became friends! She's cool yah, and pretty but no. . . she's not my type. She's for. . . someone else." he smiled big, totally at ease now.

Nya turned red, "Oh. . . Well, now I feel even more retarded."

Jay reached out and took her hand, "It's ok. It was an honest mistake. Besides if you had asked before-"

"I know, I know." She cut him off smiling now too. _Wait until Pixal hears about this_ , she thought.

"Yah. And for the record I may not like Ashlyn that way but . . . I do have a crush on another girl." He shifted his eyes away from her.

Nya eyed him strangely, "Who-who is it?" Almost afraid to ask.

He shifted his blue eyes back to her, a shy grin spread on his face, "Take a wild guess."

Nya blinked, "Me? You. . .me?"

He smiled bigger, turning pink slightly, _man, was it hot in here? No. . .yes, it was definitely hot. Must be the burgers cooking._

"I like you too." She smiled back.

Jay bit his lip, suddenly panicking. _What if she wants to kiss me!? What do I do? How do you kiss a girl?!_

She stood up and walked over to his side of the table, sliding in next to him. She gave him one of her warm hugs and before he could register anything else, she pressed a small kiss to his pink cheek.

Jay's heart burst into fireworks!

So did the rest of him for that matter. . .

* * *

It was cold and wet. No, HE was cold and wet. Kai trudged through the rain wondering why the heck his father needed milk at this time of day? It had been ok-ish to get it earlier, but on the way back the rain started ripping down the sky. Kai growled and pulled his red hoodie closer around himself. If this rain didn't kill him, the cold he'd get after would.

Kai zoned himself out as he walked home, ignoring the dirty looks people gave him as he stomped past rudely. He let his mind wander into that solitary hole in the back of his brain. He'd built that space a long time ago. It had become a habit to hide into it when he felt crappy.

Come to think of it, he'd started doing that after his mother had passed.

He wiped the water that dripped down his face. His stomach growled, _dang this stupid errand._

He continued to walk towards his street which was now looming in his line of vision. He passed a burger shop. He stopped. Reversed backwards, and looked into the wide glass window.

There. All smiles. Was Nya, next to that twerp! Kai growled through the glass.

 _When I get my hands on that little worm I'm gonna-_

A sharp bump in his back cut his thoughts off, his milk carton fell to the ground.

"Hey!" He yelled throwing out his hand towards the offending body that was trying to shove past him.

"Where do you think you're going!" He wrenched the struggling form towards him and yanked the hood off so he could see the offender.

Blazing red hair and glaring green eyes met his vision. A sultry lined face twisted in disgust at him. Kai caught his breath.

He forgot about his sister and Jay and his fathers milk and the rain and. . . heck his mind slipped into a total blank. He didn't realize his face had gone slack until she yanked her arm out of his loosened grasp.

"What're you staring at jerk face?" She hissed, the rain dripping down her prominent cheek bones.

The temperamental teen shook his head, water flinging from it, "Um. . . nothing I-uh. . .hi?" For once he felt like the idiots he usually picked on.

She scoffed at him and pulled her wet hood back on, a shock of lightening flashed behind her, "Whatever. Moron." Then she stomped away, her red boots splashing in the growing puddles as she crossed the dark street.

Kai stood there, staring after her. His mind whirled backwards, his heart was practically stabbing him.

 _Who was that girl?_

He rubbed his head dizzily, then he remembered his fathers milk. He bent over and picked it up throwing one more look at Jay and his sister then he stomped away. . .

 _Nah, I'll get him later._


	15. Chapter 15

**a/n) Ok. I am so tired. And sad, and sorry. Tired because I was up all night last night watching 1950's black and white Disney t.v. shows. And they were awesome!**

 **Sad cuz summer's almost over and I'll be starting collage soon. Yippie. Less writing that means.**

 **Sorry because I haven't updated in two or so weeks. Let me tell you, way to many things threw themselves at me lately.**

 **Anyway, I tired my best to get this out so I hope it's cool enough for you guys.**

 **Thanks a million for your reviews! 51 and counting, you guys just make my weeks!**

* * *

 _"_ Jay? Jay? JAY!"

"Huh? Oh, yes?" Jay shook his head and turned to look at Ashlyn. She looked back at him, her dark brows furrowed in concern.

"You ok? You seem really ditzy today."

Jay smiled wide. He was on cloud Nine! After last night with Nya he'd forgotten his problems and became ten times more excited when she said yes to his dance invitation. Now she was his official date for the fall formal and he couldn't be happier. Of course later... he'd probably start thinking about the consequences.

"Sorry. I'm just excited is all."

"For what?"

He hesitated for a minute, _nah, Ashlyn was alright_ , "I'm going to take Nya to the dance next week."

Ash looked at him strangely, "But . . . her brother?"

The blue eyed boy shrugged, "I don't actually care at the moment."

"Oh." She turned her attention back towards the dragon fields.

The entire team, plus Jay, was there. It was just a practice flying before the big race. Each members raced against each other. Cole was currently mounting Rocky to race against Zane. Thankfully Rocky was feeling better. Garmadon had him checked and it appeared not to be anything more then a little dragon cold.

"Sooooo?"

Ashlyn heard Jay drawl next to her on the bench.

"So what?"

"So who's taking you?"

The petite girl shrugged and refused to look at him. Her purple eyes shifted up towards the sky where Rocky and Shard flew past each other, Zane yelling some comment or other making Cole shout back.

Jay sensed her stiffen now. _Maybe I said the wrong thing? Wait. . . what if nobody's asked her yet. Man, I feel like such a jerk right now_. He bit his lip, studying the small girl next to him. Come to think of it, something about her was off today.

He wasn't a girl emotion reader but even he could tell something was bothering Ashlyn.

"Say Ash Are you-"

His sentence was cut off as Ashlyn suddenly let out a scream, a look of pure horror zipping across her face before she flew of the bench.

Jay sat there blinking for a moment before he realized she'd run off like a cheetah towards the field. The confused boy turned to see why she'd freaked and gapped.

 _Cole and Rocky had crashed into the old trailer._

Now he was the one freaking and running faster then he'd ever done before.

He reached the site of the crash five seconds after Ashlyn. Zane had landed too and both were trying to get as much derbies off the two victims as they could

Finally Rocky shifted and stood up, the ground shook and nearly knocked Jay sideways when the dusty Dragon emitted a huge sneeze.

"What happened?" He and Zane reached for Cole who was stuck under a sheet of heavy metal roofing.

Jay had never seen him so dazed before.

Ashlyn was even paler then normal as she clasped her shirt in attempt to calm her heart down.

Cole was unresponsive for a minute as they carried him to the bleachers.

Ashlyn came running after with a first aid kit and a bottle of water which she dumped on Coles head promptly, making him snap awake immediately.

By then Garmadon and others from the faculty had come to check and take charge.

"Cole?" Ash bent down an placed a small hand under his shaggy bangs and pushed them back, "Cole, say something please." Her lower lip stuck out slightly.

Jay hadn't ever seen her cry, and he decided he didn't want to so much.

Finally Cole shook his head and looked at them.

"Guys? Hey... what happened?"

"I'm afraid your going to have to tell us that Cole." Zane looked void of feeling at the moment. Jay figured that's how he stifled his fear and concern.

Cole rubbed his head, "I... we were racing right? I don't know. Rocky sorta felt like he lost balance or something and before I could figure out what was wrong he flipped out. Next thing I remember was the ground coming up to meet us."

Garmadon came in at that moment and basically asked the same things they had.

"That's strange." He tapped his chin, "I'll have another doctor come in for him, check for injuries and possibly what made him loose control. As for you young man, we've contacted your father and if your all in one piece perhaps we should-"

Cole tried to stand up.

His face nearly turned green, his lips twisted tightly together before he fell back on the hard bench.

That's when everyone noticed.

His shin wasn't as straight as it should be.

 _Crap . . ._

* * *

"Well, why can't we hang out today." Nya looked at Jay questioningly, not sure if she should be suspicious or not.

The blue eyed boy sighed and closed his locker, "It's not because of anything against you, it's just. . . I need to go visit one of my friends is all."

Now her brow cleared, "Oh. You mean that Cole boy. Yah, I heard about that. Broke his leg or something right? [Pixal told me. She wanted to visit him too." Then she brightened up, "Hey! Why don't we all go visit him. All three of us."

Jay wasn't to sure about that. Something in his gut made him feel like that ides would have some kind of consequences. Though, his brain couldn't quite on them yet. _Nah, he was just being paranoid._

"Sure. Call up Pixal and we'll go right now."

Nya smiled brightly and practically skipped off to find her friend.

Jay smiled after her. _Dang, I sure am lucky to know her and_ -

A shadow behind him cut his thoughts short.

He turned slowly. He already knew what was there before he even saw it.

Kai was glaring down at him with fire.

"Um... Hehe, Hey Uh Kai. Long. . . time no . . . see?" He remarked sheepishly, trying to keep from passing out.

"So this is your game huh." Kai seethed as his hands grabbed the front of Jay's shirt pulling him up so the shorter boy was at eyelevel.

"No! No game I was just... you-"

Kai's grip tightened, "I saw you. At that burger shop last night. Your lucky I had somewhere to go or I would have-"

Jay knew his fear was reflecting in his own eyes. He just wasn't good at poker faces.

"Kai please, can't we just forget about this? I never wanted to be enemies in the first place. I like your sister..." _Damn it! How could I just admit that to HIM! Moron!_ "I bet I'd like you too if you'd just stop trying to kill me!" The last part practically burst out in desperation.

Kai stopped.

Jay gulped.

Kai's grip loosened.

Jay figured he should run for it.

Then he noticed Kai's dazed expression.

"If I stopped trying to kill you . .." He repeated the words almost in a delirious state.

Jay patted down his shirt, "Yah . . ." Now he felt panic, _what's he going to do to me now?_

 _Nothing._

Kia didn't do anything. His brown eyes flashed over the younger boy. Jay's never seen that look before. He looked lost, maybe worried, a hint of sadness? Jay wasn't sure because Kai turned and left as quickly as he had come, his back hunched over as he shoved his hands in his red jacket pockets.

Jay stood there. Utterly confused. Silently contemplating . . . _What the heck's up with him_?

Nya came bouncing up and grabbed his arm cheerfully, unaware of his confusion and what had happened.

"Got Pixal! Ready?"

"Um . . . sure..."

* * *

"Ash! Cut it out! It's fine. I'm fine!" Cole glared at the young girl as she shifted his pillows for the umpteenth time in the last five minutes. She was the only one there as of now. Actually, she'd been her since visiting hours started. Not even a minute late.

And she'd been fussing over him since.

He received a reproachful look before she went back to her pillow adjusting.

He sighed. There's no way to get around this girl when she had her mind set on something. After they'd called his dad, he was rushed to the hospital and put trough all kinds of x-rays and pain killers. _Because Damn, had it hurt like hell._

He remembered saying something along those lines to his dad when he'd told him he was going to be all right. _Pffft, All right! No I'm not gonna be all right! Dragon races are in two days! Without me they'll have to forfeit._

Needless to say his father had shown _very little_ concern over that.

"ASHLYN!" He burst out irritated, grabbing her by the arms and pulling her away from his pillows and on to his springy bed.

She pushed away, still sitting on his bed and glared at him, "What?! I'm trying to make sure you're comfortable here!"

He rolled his silver eyes at her, "Sweetheart, I'm FINE! Jeez, stop acting like I'm a kid or something. It's just a broken leg." Now he sounded like his father.

Hurt flashed through the small framed girls face, only for a second before she resume her steady expression, "Yah well... you didn't see just how you broke it." The memory seemed to flash before her eyes for an instant.

Cole hadn't thought of that. _Hum . . . wonder how it looked from their views._

"You fell from the sky for god's sake! It's a miracle you only broke your leg!" She resumed smoothing out his blanket and sheets.

He sighed, "Come'er you." He threw an arm around her unsuspecting shoulders and all but dragged her into a warm hug.

She felt stiff for a moment before pressing harder against him, burying her pale face in his grey T-shirt. That's when Cole realized she was crying. _Shoot!_ Had she been t _hat_ scared? He knew Ashlyn, and Ashlyn was really good at keeping back tears. Only rarely did he ever see her let them out.

"Ash. Come on now. It's _oK._ The good thing is I'm not dead right?" He spoke soothingly, hugging her closer.

She didn't make a sound. The only thing that gave her away was her small shuddering breaths.

"Ashlyn. Listen, I thought you were here to make me feel better right? This is not making me feel better." He tried again.

Finally she lifted her slightly red face and wiped away the wet spots, "Sorry." She took a deep breath, "I didn't realize just how scared I really was."

The dark haired boy let a soft smile spread on his face, "No problem Ash." He reached out and cupped the side of her face, wiping away some left over tears with her thumb, "It's only me anyway."

She closed her eyes for second, before clasping her hand on his. She turned her face, kissed his palm and stood up, heading towards the connected bathroom.

Cole sat there, and looked at his hand. The spot where her small lips touched still tingled. A small grin played on his lips. This girl was going to drive him nuts soon.

* * *

Half an hour later Jay, Nya, Pixal, and Zane were all crowding around in Cole's room, each trying to sign his white cast with their own special signature.

Ashlyn had already done that first. So they all decided to too.

"So." Jay smiled at his flustering buddy, "How's things?" He grinned.

Cole frowned at him, "Seriously kid?"

"Kidding. But seriously how long's that gonna be on?"

The older boy sighed, "Three stupid months."

Zane shook his head, "I saw Garmadon this afternoon. He's all in pieces because of this. For the first time ever .. . we'll have to forfeit the Races."

"I know. I'm sorry guys really. But how's Rocky?" Concern flew from the Races to his Dragon instantly.

Zane shrugged, "Garmadon says the doctors say he'll be out for a while to. Some kind of parasite in his left stomach or something. Their still testing."

Jay swore Cole's face looked like the boy's heart had broken along with his expression. Ashlyn stepped forward, instantly.

"No worries Cole. I'll make sure he's taken care of 5 stars."

Cole didn't look any happier.

Ashlyn gave Zane a good toe bashing for that one.

"I'm so sorry about everything Cole." Pixal gushed forward, "If there's anything I can do . .. "

"Nah, it's ok. Just. . . don't forget me in my absence ok."

"Never."

At this point Nya felt like she should say something, "I hope you'll be better soon." She smiled shyly.

"Yah. Me too. Thanks."

Everyone started talking again and trying to get Cole's mind off his leg and dragon.

Pretty soon after a short hospital lunch it was time to go.

"We'll see you in school soon I hope." Zane said before he took Pixals hand and left.

"Yah, I should get my crutches in a few."

"Take care buddy. I'm gonna try to visit you a lot ok." Jay promised, placing a hand on his friends slumping shoulder.

"Sure."

They all left except Ashlyn. Cole knew she didn't want to go. But she knew she couldn't stay.

"Ash . .. "

She bit her small lip and looked at him sadly, "I know, I know." She reached over quickly and gave him a one arm hug, "I'll be back tomorrow. Don't think I won't." She said determined.

This got a small chuckle out of him, "Oh, I have no doubts about that. See ya Ash."

"Sleep, ok." With that she disappeared out the door nearly running into Mr. Hunter.

"Well son. Doctor says a couple days and you should be back home. Son? Cole?"

All the elderly man received in response was a series of soft deep snores.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N) Oh My God! I can NOT believe I haven't updated in almost a month! Man, time sure flies when your nearly suffocating with work. I've been swamped with collage applications and weekend job forms and yadda, yadda, yadda. Yeesh. I'm really sorry my lovely readers. I really am.**

 **I didn't mean to leave you and the ninja all hanging. I hope this chapter makes up for it!**

 **I hope...**

 **P.s. This chapters a lot shorter then I originally planned. But where I ended it was just to good to pass up so I left it there. Hope you at least snort in amusment!**

* * *

"We can't forfite." Ash growled furiously as she dragged a bucket of water up to Rocky's stall. The big dusty dragon still wasn't feeling well, and she'd promised Cole she'd help look after him.

"What else can we do?" Zane sighed, "It's not like we could control what happened to Cole."

The petite girl sighed. _Zane was right. He was always right. Even when people wished he wasn't._

"We're never gonna hear the end of this if the Serpentine win by default." She shoved her bangs out of her face irritably and flopped on the bench next to the calmer boy.

Zane took a deep breath and patted her shoulder softly, "I know. Garmadon is still pretty heart broken for that."

Ashlyn didn't answer. She stared drearily into space thinking about how badly their coach would take Chen's constant jeering that his team had won by default.

 _There has to be a way. Another way to_ -

A loud crash and yelp startled her out of her thoughts. Her amethyst eyes shifted towards the back where the metal pails where stacked and now rolling in circles.

Jay groaned and stumbled over, his face dusted pink when he noticed her slightly bemused look.

 _Jay. A total klutz with confidence issues that he hid with an irrepressible smile. . . But that optimism usually made up for any lack of anything and._ . .

Wait a _minute._

 _No, it's to crazy. He could get killed. Besides Garmadon would never agree to it and_ . . .

"Hey Jay?" Ashlyn stood up, she was never really one for overthinking things, "You like Dragons right?"

She ignored Zane as he stiffened instantly, Jay eyed her curiously and maybe slightly nervous.

"Ya-a-a-h?" He drawled uncertainty.

She hopped up, clapping her hands, now completely involved in her idea, "Great. Then hop on Wisp over there and I'll give you the ropes."

Jay almost fainted.

"Ashlyn!" Zane's voice sharpened, "Are you crazy? He hasn't ridden a dragon in his life. He could kill himself." Solid facts.

Jay sat up from the dusty ground he'd dramatically fallen on. His face was actually pale and Ash almost backed down.

 _Almost._

"Come on Zane, stop giving us statistics of gloom. There's a chance he could get it! 'Sides it'll do him some good to get a hobbie." She lifted the blue eyed boy to his feet with a quick grasp, "And it would do a lot of other people good too." She peered into his face imploringly, "Come on Jay. What do you say? Will you try?"

The idea freaked him out. _I've never ridden a dragon before! I mean, sure I've always wanted to but... what will mom and dad say? They'll freak. and that's not even if I get hurt! I. . .NO, I CAN'T. I'll just tell her No and-_

"I .. . sure Ash. For you and Cole and the rest, I'll try." _Idiot!_

The petite girl let out an uncharacteristic squeal and grasped his arm, "Yes! Come on let's find you a suit and get you on a dragon!"

She all but dragged the limp boy away.

Jay swallowed, his blue eyes caught Zane's icy ones.

Pure concern flashed across them...

 _Oh boy._

* * *

 _Stupid crutches. Stupid leg. Stupid cast. Stupid me.._ .

Cole growled to himself as he hobbled with his temporary legs swinging and thumping clumsily on the hard ground. He just barley dodged a baby dragon as it wizzes by his head, but managed to keep balance.

Getting around was more difficult then it should have been. It's kind of humorlessly funny how people don't realize what they had until they didn't have it anymore. Cole decided if he ever broke something again it wouldn't be his leg. He'd rather have his arm useless then his leg.

He clicked his lock, muttering the combination to himself as it ticked and opened. Still muttering he pulled out his magic potion class book and slammed the locker shut before hissing airily, his temper boiling over. The more he thought about how his team would lose without a fight the more angry he became at himself. _Sure, it was an uncontrolled accident but still. . . I should have done something right._

D _ang it! The serpentine would never let them live it down and-_

"Cole?"

The older boy almost fell off his crutches as he whirled around to see Pixal, her bright green eyes looking up imploringly and slightly worried.

"Oh, hey Pixal. What's up?" He tried to regain his composter.

She shrugged, pushing a silvery strand of hair behind her ear, "I was just passing and saw you looked so upset. The race?"

He nodded glumly, "Yah. First race to miss, it'll bring us down bad."

The younger girl nodded sympathetically, "I'm sorry. But maybe you can get your mind off of it by going to the dance."

Cole laughed. He hadn't meant to, but it burst out short and a little harsh, "Sorry Pix, but you do see the broken leg right? Dancing is kinda outta the question."

She nudged him with a reproachfully look, "I know that silly. Your ridicules. I mean to ask somebody to it and just spend time with them, or you could just wallow in self pity all week alone." She shrugged nonchalantly and held her books tighter over her chest, "Anyway, I have to go. I'll see you around." She waved walking off.

Cole watched her go, biting his lip in thought. Maybe Pixal was right. Maybe he should think of something else to occupy his time, instead of just hating on himself and his stupid mistake. It might make things less dreary and help his recovery along. _Yah. Maybe I should do something._

 _Hum. But what?_

* * *

Kai rolled over and groaned. His head thumping on the desk loudly.

Anything was better then this crud. He was in detention yet again and this time it was too boring for thoughts. He'd rather be doing math homework instead, but he'd left that home, which explains why he was in detention.

 _Maybe if I just play hookie for the rest of the year they won't let me in school anymore._ He rolled over to the other side of the worn desk. The babysitting teacher had stepped out to use the 'facilities' as he called it, so Kai was left in complete silence except for the irritatingly loud ticking of the black wall clock over the black board.

Tick. Tick. _Tick._

His drawling punishment would _never_ be over.

So he let his brain go to the more buried thoughts in his head. The thoughts he didn't like to mull over. The ones he'd put in that secret compartment in his brain so he wouldn't think about them. But for some reason those thoughts were weaseling out lately and made him think.

Bad for his reputation though.

What Jay the twerp had said that last time he'd almost creamed him. It had stuck with him for a while, though he didn't like to admit it to himself.

 _I bet I'd like you too if you stopped trying to kill me!_

It had struck a cord with him. Nobody dared like him for anything. Sure his sister, she was just stupidly attracting like that. But to say if he was less violent he'd like him? That was pretty skeptical.

 _Nobody likes a dork._

That's what he'd be if he didn't stay tough. That was what he was afraid of being. Nobody would like him. Nobody did, but at least they feared him somewhat, that lead to respect. If he were to be a dork he wouldn't get anything, not even notice of existence.

 _Like Jay_. He sneered. _Like a loser._

The door clicked open, cutting his thoughts off as he turned to see a curvy young girl with a dark orange hoodie pulled low over her head.

Kai straighten in surprise. He'd never seen this girl before, or _any_ girl, in detention before.

The teacher pushed her in and frowned at her.

"Honestly, why they don't just suspend you is beyond me. Stay put. I'll be back in five." Then he closed the door loudly grumbling complaints of some kind under his breath.

The room stayed silent. Kai's brown eyes summed up the girl who was hunched defiantly at the other end of the room as she slipped into a desk, never turning her face. Middle height. Curvy despite the loose sweater, long legs.

He vaguely wondered what her face looked like.

His studying soon became boring and he was about to decide she wasn't worth it.

Until:

"What're you looking at dork."

The words were harshly said with a smooth voice. Kai snapped up. They were also foreign to his ears and made him angry. Nobody had ever dared. . .

"You talking to me?" He countered simmering. Temper flaring underneath his skin as he turned on her.

She turned towards him fully now suddenly and yanked off her hood. Blazing red hair and sharp green eyes flashed in his brain. His stomach plummeted as his face went slack. That girl . . .

"You see any other dork with bad hair in here?" She countered smoothly.

Kai stared. He didn't relize he was. His brain registered what she said _very_ slowly.

"Hey!" She had the nerve to talk about _his_ hair! "I happen to have awesome hair." He growled back. Not his usual meanness but still she wrinkled her delicate looking nose and twisted away from his direction.

Heavy silence resumed.

Kai didn't like it. He didn't know why, but he didn't.

"So . . . ." He drawled, for the first time unsure of himself, "What'er you in for?"

She scoffed, "Smoke bombs in an enemy locker."

Kai raised his brows, "Yah?" He refused to sound impressed, "Pulled that a couple years back. Pretty worth it."

She glanced at him, her face unreadable, "You?"

He smirked and leaned back, casually folding his arms behind his head, "I don't like to brag but I kinda rewrote a teachers lesson plan and cheated off his own text book right in front of him."

He looked at her smugly.

Her face was straight. Then a strange half smile cut it, "Liar. You forgot your homework again."

Kai fell out of his chair with a loud clatter.

He sputtered pulling himself up. _How did she-?_

The smug look on her face now and the way she turned from him meant he wasn't going to get any thing else out of her.

That could mean a challenge.

A slow grin spread across his face.

 _Good Bye boredom!_

* * *

"You hold the reins here, pull down to make him go up, up to go down, left to go right, and right to go left. Simple right?" Ashlyn was rattling off all the instructions of how to drive a living, breathing, giant, terrifying creature like it was a _bike_!

Jay swallowed, he wasn't so sure about this.

"Um... why all opposite?" He asked worriedly.

"Because, think about it. If you pull up, the dragon feels the rein at the bottom. If you pull down it's head goes up. Get it?" She stated calmly, "Now step up." she ordered, crouching with her hands laced together.

Jay swallowed again and placed a spiked boot in her hand. With a strong deft movement she pushed him up and onto the saddle.

Jay almost shrieked out of sudden overwhelming nerves. Instead he went taut and held the reins for dear life. Terrified and petrified.

Ashlyn pulled herself up effortlessly and slipped behind him. The dragon shifted slightly. Jay didn't move. Ash felt his stiffness and terror through his back. She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Listen. Jay. Don't worry. If your afraid your dragon won't trust you. Trust your Dragon and he'll obey. Just relax, you can do this." She spoke calmly in his ear.

Jay nodded wordlessly, still trying to slow his pounding heart. Ash slipped her arms around his stiff waist and rested her hands on his, "Now hold on, ok. I'm going to guide you. Just let the movements be fluid. Ready?"

He nodded again. His brain screaming in protest.

The girl took a deep breath and moved his arms to snap the thick reins. The dragon snorted and instantly started moving. Jay almost blacked out from fear.

Ashlyn's sure hold on his hands kept him from going that far though. She was confident about this. He could be too. He hoped.

Faster, and faster, and faster. The dragon began running. Jay's body shook and bounced slightly as Wisp picked up momentum then-

He gasped, his breath sucked right out of his panicking lungs. The air slapped his face, beating of leathery wings and his heart bombarded his senses.

"Open your eyes Jay! You can't control the dragon with your eyes closed." Ash's voice cracked his brain.

He hadn't realized he'd closed them. He barley peeled one blue iris open. His heart popped.

" _Wow!"_ He breathed. The fear and terror whooshed out of his body instantly replaced by pure adrenalin and awe. The ground was speckled and green far underneath. The clouds wispy and wet as they glided effortlessly through them. Jay was quite literally on clouds.

"This-This is incredible!" His heart began to sore. He'd never felt anything like this before. He felt light, weightless, almost deliriously free.

Ash laughed behind him, "I know. Best part of the whole thing." She moved his arms to make the Dragon go left, "Think you can handle it after all?" She asked after a few maneuvers.

Jay grinned so hard it hurt, "Yah!" _Yah, I can now._

"Ok." She let go. Jay fought back the sense of fear that tried to crawl up and ruin his happy.

"Good!" Ashlyn laughed, "Now go down. Keep him steady. Great, now just pull a little and make him go down. Around. Your a natural Jay!"

"I am?!" Those words gave him more pleasure then anyone could know. _I'm a natural at something like this! Man, that's to amazing for words!_

"We can do this Jay. Come the race, you'll be ready." She was saying determinedly as she held onto him.

Jay blanked for a second, "Th-the race? Me?"

"Yah. You can. Wait until Cole hears this! He'll be over the moon!" She sounded beyond excited now.

The auburn haired boy felt his anxiety return full force, he wasn't so sure about that bit of the deal. Practicing to ride a dragon was something, but racing in a dragon race. . . something entirely different.

Then an abrupt thought struck him as he noticed their descend to ground.

"Um - Ashlyn? How the _heck_ do you land?!"


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N)Ok heres another chappie, hopefully I'll get a better response this time round, then last time. Not that I'm not grateful for the ones who did review but I don't wanna feel forgotten.**

 **Anyway, I can understand if your all busy with school and such, after all for most it did starts this week. I hope you all can give a second to give me a few words though.**

 **Hope you like this chapter.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Nya looked at herself skeptically in the mirror. She twisted around to see how the pink dress she was wearing looked in the back.

It was a sleeveless dress that held tightly to her underdeveloped top, and billowed out in the skirt, layered with red and pink frills.

"Juvenile." She sighed and slipped out of the dress, _I'm running out of time_. Nya brushed her hair back form her face and glanced at herself in the mirror again. Honestly she couldn't see why Jay would like her. She was barley average looking.

 _Not to mention I'm a late bloome_ r, She thought bitterly.

Tomorrow was the dance. She flopped down on her bed and looked forlornly at the crumpled dress next to her. _HOW WILL I EVER GET THE RIGHT DRESS BY TOMORROW!_? She sighed and rolled over, face in her pillow, _there's no way._

Slowly her thoughts drifted to Jay. His red-brown hair flashed softly in her minds eye, laughing blue eyes that didn't seem to be touched by any kind of hurt, his laugh, the way he'd smile at her then turn pink, as if she was the most precious thing ever. Her! Of all people, even after what her brother had done to him.

Nya sighed loudly and sat up rubbing her eye, thinking of her brother reminded her that he should have been home by now.

Frowning she stood up and went out to check. _I am not about to cover for him if Dad asks where he is_. She looked in the kitchen. Nope. His room. Nuh uh. The t.v. room? No.

 _Huh? Where is he?_

Just as she was considering going out to find him, the temperamental dork himself walked in.

And he was . . . whistling?

Nya gaped, not actually believing this guy was her brother.

"Kai? Are you ok?" She couldn't help it. He was smiling somewhat.

He stopped whistling and looked at her blankly, "Yah? Why dweeb?"

"Um, how was your day?" She asked, as if that would explain his weird mood.

He shrugged, threw his backpack in a corner and went towards the kitchen, "Fine. Regular. What's to eat?"

She followed him into the kitchen and watched, still confused, as he rummaged through the icebox.

"Um, Kai? Can I ask you something?"

He pulled out a coke and popped it open turning towards her with a raised eyebrow, "Didn't you ask me like several questions just now?"

She rolled her brown eyes, "No I mean... would you mind driving me down to the mall to get a new dress?" She blurted out quickly.

Kai nearly choked on his drink.

"What?" Surprise clearly flashed across his face.

Maybe this was a mistake, "Um, yah. I-I need a new dress for the-the dance tomorrow and-"

"You going with that twerp?" He snapped suddenly, his eyes narrowing instantly, good mood dissipating.

Nya bit her lip, "Um-y-yah?" She drawled uncertainly eyeing his reaction to her words.

He tensed, his left brow twitched. She watched his shoulders tense. She steeled herself for an argument.

"Fine."

Her head snapped up, wide eyed and agape, "W-what?"

"Fine." He snapped again, "Let's go. I don't got all day."

Nya gasped as if he'd slapped her. _He- is he really-_

"You coming or what?!"

"Uh, um, yah. Yah, coming." She shook her head and bound after him. Not willing to ruin this clear rare gift of fortune.

* * *

"Hey Zane?"" Cole tilted his head towards his white clad friend.

Zane was busy staring up at the sky, icy blue eyes flickering out with concern every few seconds, "Yes Cole?"

The dark haired boy shifted his leg with his hands and leaned back into the bench with a small grunt, "Um, can you tell my how are you sure we aren't going to forfeit this race? " He looked blankly at his friend. Zane had all but dragged him out of his room that afternoon telling him in so many words that there was a huge surprise concerning the rescue from forfeiting the race at the Dragon stables. Of course he'd refused to say anything else. Which was why he was sitting there, staring into the quiet sky, slightly fidgety.

The taller boy's face lit up, "Yes! The reason is over there!" He shot up and pointed directly up to the clear sky.

Cole narrowed his silver eyes and scrunched his face. An electric blue dragon zipped through the white clouds followed by a shrill whoop. Cole gaped as he saw who was on that dragon.

Jay pulled the creature into a loop and brought it down to almost a perfect landing.

"W-what?" He was speechless to say the least. _Jay? On a dragon? The boy was terrified of them the first time he saw one he shrieked like a girl! What gives?_

"That was AWESOME! Your best time yet Jay!" Ashlyn's voice snapped him from his shock as he shifted his eyes and actually noticed her slip down from behind the younger, blue eyed boy.

Jay was grinning like a Cheshire cat, "Yah? Thanks Ash. Your a great coach." He gave her a playful shove as she rang out in a laugh.

"Thank you, thank you, I am amazing aren't I?" She posed, "Turning a twerp into a dragon racer in just a few days? Yah, I am awesome!" This got a laugh out of her 'student'.

"Yah. You are. Hey!" Jay's grin stretched bigger if that was possible, "Cole! Man, am I glad to see you! Did you see that! I can ride a dragon!" He bound up to the older boy and patted him affectionately on the back, "How's the old broken leg?"

Cole shook his head and blinked back to reality. Still trying to get his head around Jay riding a dragon, "Um, good, fine. Wow. When you start to do that?"

"Three days ago. I think." The blue eyed boy looked at Ash for verification.

She nodded, her purple eyes sparkling, "Yah, fast learner this one. And here I thought the only thing he was good at was talking!" She nudged Jay with a grin.

Cole took in that motion. _When'd Ash and Jay become such good buddies?_ He shook off the weird feeling that was bubbling up, "Um, yah. So. . . he's joining the race in my place?"

"Yes. Provided he thinks he's ready for tomorrow." Zane looked at the younger boy.

Jay smiled, "Yah. I think . . . um? Ash?"

The petite girl practically punched his arm off.

"Of course you are dork!" She grinned anyway.

"Ow." Jay rubbed his hurting arm, "and thanks. You ok with this right Cole?"

Now all eyes turned to their captain.

Was he ok with this? Sure, he couldn't ride for a while due to his leg, and he was pretty bummed that they would have to forfeit... that is until now. _And they just decided to bring this up now_?

"Yah. Course. I can't wait to see you out there kid." The dark haired boy smiled sincerely, "Just make sure you get here on time. Ok? We need you if we're gonna win that race."

"Yes!" Ashlyn fist pumped and threw her arms around Jay, squeezing him in excitement, "We are so going to win these semi's!"

Zane smiled, "And I do believe The Serpentine won't appreciate that at all."

Jay laughed, "Great, that's what I need. More enemies."

Cole slung an arm around his shoulders, ignoring Ashlyn's proximity, "Don't worry shorty. You'll deal fine."

Jay hoped to god he actually would.

* * *

"Ok. What do you think of this one?" Nya placed a sleeveless blue dress against herself and turned to her brother inquiringly, "Think it's too much frill and blu- Kai!"

Kai was currently snoring on a bench, head tilted back, completely bored.

Nya growled and threw the dress at him. He snorted awake, blubbering.

"Whaz that? Whoz there, huh? Oh yah, great sis." A yawn almost split his face, "You done? I wanna go home and take a nap." He stood up lazily and hung the dress back in the wrong rack.

His sister groaned and face palmed herself, the journey to the mall had been a shocking offer at first, but now his lack of enthusiasm was making it irritating.

"Whatever. Let me look a little more. You go out and. . . pout or something." She shooed him away.

Her brother shrugged, and sauntered out the door with his hands shoved in his red hoodie, ignoring the disapproving look that the primped cashier threw after him.

God. Why'd he have to offer to take his sister here. He groaned rolling his neck, _stupid idea, I hate the mall. It was boring, and the dorks that usually came here were just that, dorks. air headed girls and their jocks. Or whatever._

M _an, what got into me? Seriously,_ he grouched to himself, ju _st so she could get a dress to go out with that loser tomorrow_. _Dork probably wouldn't even notice her dress. Forget that,_ Kai scowled at the ground, he didn't deserve his sister to look nice for him.

"What that guy needs is a serious social statues update. Where he figures out he's at the bottom." He growled out loud.

"Careful Spike. Keep talking to your shoes like that and somebody might think your crazy." A snide voice caught his attention, "not that your hair helps your case."

He whirled around to see that red-head from detention, his mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. Nothing came out for once.

"You look like a fish after it's been impelled several times."

That got him, his face twisted into a dark scowl, she could NOT keep getting away with those insults, "You seriously need to get over yourself. My hair is cool. Deal with it."

Now she scoffed, flipping her flaming hair over her shoulder, "Talk about low self esteem. Now are you just going to stand there or are you going to order something?"

That caught him off guard completely, _What?_ He looked up and took in the surroundings. He had unintentionally walked up to a small food shack in the middle of the mall.

That's when he also noticed her attire. A white visor, apron, and stripped shirt. Complete with a burger logo and 'i hate you' look on her sharp face.

"Uh, you.. work at the mall?" He hadn't meant to ask. He'd meant to insult her back. But that unknown piece of info proved too interesting to discover.

Her face darkened and she grabbed his collar, yanking him to eye level, taking him by surprise, "Listen punk, I don't know what your game is or whatever, but if you think just because we're in detention together means we can pal up, your dead wrong. Now stop trying to pry in my personal life and order something or get out!" She shoved him away roughly, throwing an even darker glare at him.

Kai blinked. Shocked was on understatement. He had not expected that outburst. He studied the red headed girl as she turned away bitterly to mix some beverage. Her back was tense and her entire form screamed, _'back off or else_ '

A smirk spread his face. Like heck he would.

"Kai."

She turned to him, irritated confusion littered her face, "What?"

"Kai. My name is Kai. You?"

Her green eyes flickered over him as if trying to figure out if he was being sincere or not, "What part of _back off didn't you get?_

His smirk widened as he leaned closer, his palms on the counter, "The' Back off' part. Now, you got a name or what? Or would you rather I go around calling you Pippe or something?"

She glared at him, seemingly fighting with the decision of telling her name or not, "Skylor."

Kai grinned now, "You don't say? Well, see you around Skylor." With that battle won, he turned, shoved his fists in his pockets and sauntered away to his sisters searching form, just imagining the hard glare the red head was throwing at him behind his back.

 _Yah. I think detention, and maybe social life, just got more interesting._


	18. Chapter 18

_**A/N) Ok. Befor you guys pull out the fire and pitchforks I just want to say. No, I am not going to beg and apologize. I find 'I'm sorry' overused. I'm going to show you my 'sorry' with this chapter. It's more than 4'000 words long and I hope you enjoy what's in it. Collage is literally sucking my soul out, along with free time. I've got five exams to do before this week is out so I went way out of my way to write this.**_

 _ **I hope it's worth it.**_

 _ **Enjoy and show me you all don't hate me or have forgotten me please. My goal is ten reviews. What do you guys say? It'll make my horrible study dragged soul brighten. I LOVE you're reviews.**_

 _ **So yah, if that challenge isn't too much to meet I'd love it if all of you contributed. It only takes one small review from all who read. And I know theres a bunch of you who do.**_

 _ **So, yah, ENJOY!**_

* * *

Jay was _beyond_ freaking out.

He swallowed his fear, nerves, and utter freak outing now. They just bubbled right back up. _Shoot_! he was sweating. _Calm down Jay, calm, think of happy things, calm things, If you freak out it's all over_. He swallowed again. _Right calm_ _things. . . Trees, Butterflies. . . stuff_.

"Hey Jay!"

The blue eyed boy let out a very girly shriek and practically jumped twenty feet in the air, "Ashlyn! Don't do that!" He pounded his chest as if to get his heart started after his fright.

The petit girl looked at him strangely as Zane came up behind her, "Um . .. Jay, you don't look so good." She observed.

 _No Duh. I feel like crap right now. I can't do this! I can't! I'll fall off the dragon, or miss the rod, ororor-_

"JAY!"

He let out another squeak as he came back to reality with a start.

Ashlyn looked back at him, worry now littering her face. _Shit, now I've got Ash worried._

"Perhaps he needs to sit down. You look rather pale Jay." Zane took hold of the younger boys arm and led him to the nearest bench.

The fanfare started off from the announcers stand.

Jay felt like the air had been knocked out of his lungs, His mind buzzed in total submission to his nerves.

"Jay, whoa, buddy calm down." Ashlyn wrapped an arm around his shoulders, "You-your freaking me out, come on Jay, you rode the dragon perfectly for three days. You can do this." She assured.

 _No I can't_ "You really think so?"

Both Zane and Ash nodded, "I know so. Now come on. The Horns are blaring." She helped him up, "We don't want to forfeit on account of being tardy."

"Yah-yah, that would be embberassing." He tried to laugh. _Oh god, I'm going to lose this for them!_

"Let's rock!" He heard the pueple eyed girl yell, completely confidant and pumped up.

Jay squeezed his eye, _ignore the hundreds of people in the stands that would be watching this_. He took a deep breath. _It would be ok,_ he'd be ok. He _HAD_ to be ok...

Before the freaking out teen realized it he was on his dragon in the starting postion. People cheered, but he could barley hear their roar of applause over the pounding of his heart. He felt sick to his stomach, his knees knocked, his hands shook. His head buzzed. _Crap, he was going to mes this up so badly._

"GO!"

The horn blared.

Jay gasped, the dragons whooshed off into the air, including his own. He was doing it! He was flying in a real race! Y _es_! His dizziness slipped away as he began to focus on the track in front of him. He cast a quick glance over, Zane had passed on the rod to Buddy, who just barley maneuvered away from the serpentine leader who tried to take a swing at him.

Jay narrowed his eyes waiting for the opportunity when they'd pass the rod to him. With a quick tightening of the reins he guided his dragon left. Ash burst past, snatched the rod from Buddy and loopty looped around the other three competitors. The crowd grew crazy.

Jay became aware of the announcer blaring out their every moves. His heart pounded as adrenaline rushed through. The sound of it, the whooshing wind and flapping dragon wings sharpened his senses. He was _totally_ ready for this!

Ashlyn got side flown and she instantly tossed the rod to the closest flyer. _Wait! That was him! Oh crud._ Jay lost control the crowd gasped as he flipped out and began turning summersaults with his dragon, someone yelled out his name. He couldn't focus. _Why wouldn't the world stop spinning!_

For literally ten seconds he had absolutely no idea what the _heck_ had happened!

One second he was spinning out of control the next. . . he was on the ground. The crowd was screaming. His ears rang, feet pounded the earth which blurred in his vision. Faces came into view. Jay felt sick, like he was under water. People were saying something, he couldn't understand them.

"J-ay, J-ay! JAY!"

The boy snapped conscious, "Wh-what happened?" He crocked fear suddenly paralyzing him.

Ashlyn looked paler the normal, Zane helped him stand up, Even Cole had hobbled over from the side lines.

He'd done it hadn't he? _I've lost the race for them_. _Man, I am such an Idiot how could I have-wait_. . . his heart skipped as he wobbled on his feet. Slowly he uncurled his arm away from his body. In his hand was _the Rod_.

Ashlyn let out a squealed and practically glomped him.

"We won Jay! Sure you almost got killed doing it but you did it!"

Jay could barley breath as the announcer blared it out, " **Winners Dragon Racers**!"

The horn blared everyone flew into a frenzy of cheering. Seth and Buddy lifted him up, even though he kind of hurt, this was too good to pass up.

Ashlyn grabbed his collar and kissed his cheek, Jay blazed. Everyone cheered. He couldn't believe it. He really couldn't. After being a good for nothing pushed around loser for so long he never dreamed . . . _he could be a hero._

But he was! His heart soared, sure he had done it in the most _stupid_ way possible, by panicking, but he was still a hero!

As he looked at all the beaming faces and heard all the compliments.

Jay knew falling off his dragon and nearly getting killed for it... _was totally worth this!_

 _Nothing_ could ruin his night now!

* * *

Nya glared at the clock, willing it to be wrong. _It couldn't be right. It just couldn't_. She let out an exasperated sigh. _Maybe he got caught up. Maybe his parents were the overprotective type and didn't want him to go so quickly. Or maybe the wanted to come WITH him and he was trying to persuade them not to. For fear of embarrassment_.

Nya smiled to herself at that thought as she pictured the auburn haired blue eyed boy. She wondered what he'd be wearing. _Hopefully something blue._

Blue made his eyes pop out and it _was_ her favorite color.

Nya shifted her skirt so it wouldn't wrinkle as she sat on the coach in her living room. _Alone_. Well, alone until her brother waltzed in, shirtless, soda and popcorn in hand ready for a night marathon of Batman movies. She wrinkled her nose in distaste. Then her mind slipped, wondering what Jay looked like shirtless.

She blushed and snapped back to reality when her brother gasped and nearly dropped his soda all over the clean white rug.

"Nya?" What the hell are you still doing here?" He questioned, irritated. Probably because she was delaying him from his precious Batman.

She rolled her brown eyes, "Waiting. What does it look like." She crossed her arms defiantly.

Kai glared at her for a minute. Then the glare turned into a look of realization.

"Wait. Isn't Jerk face suppose to have picked you up by now?" He said, spiting out the word _Jerk Face_. He still didn't like Jay.

Nya stood up and glared at him, "Yes, _JAY_ , was supposed to have been here by now. But he's running a little late. Probably your fault." She growled under her breath.

"Nya." She turned, shocked that her brothers voice had taken a softer note.

"What?"

"Maybe jerk-Jay, stood you up." He said simply, but not harshly.

Nya gasped, she fought the tears that instantly pricked her eyes like burning needles, "How could you even say that! He would never! He's the sweetest, nicest, dorkyest guy I've ever met and-and-and" Her lip quivered as her eyes slid to the over head clock. _Three hours ago. He should have been here three hours ago_. Kai had basically just said what she was fearing.

Nya felt a tear blur her eye then fall without consent.

She turned away from her brothers prying amber colored eyes.

"Just leave me alone Kai."

Her older boy bit his lip, she could sense his rage bubbling. But it wasn't for her. _Gosh, if Jay really had stood her up_ . . . _He was as good as **dead** tomorrow._

"Nya-"

"No!" She refused to believe it. If Jay wasn't here it was because he was busy in something. _Of maybe he forgot_. That didn't make things better.

 _No, no_ , whatever happened had to be big to keep him from remembering or coming.

Nya looked at the clock, ten thirty. _He wasn't coming._

With a sigh that came from her toes, Nya carefully began to undo her hair as she practically wilted on the way to her room. Without sparing her livid brother a glance she kicked the door shut, forgot about her dress and flopped on her bed.

Just because he probably was kept from her by something big doesn't mean she couldn't be totally bummed about it.

 _So she was._

* * *

Cole tapped his cast.

It _irked_ him

He knew it _shouldn't_. But it _did_. But it wasn't a big deal. But it felt like it was. Even if it wasn't... _was it?_

He sighed and let his head flop on the back of the couch. He had been beyond happy the team had won, another semi final in the bag. Soon it was off to the big games. He didn't feel bad about missing out on it. It was ok. No use pouting over something he had no control of.

When Jay nearly killed himself crossing that finish line, he'd flipped out. The little sucker had grown on him and Cole practically found his as a weird little brother.

The glory wasn't what he was upset- _he **wasn't** upset,_ about either.

No . . . it had all gone hunky dory . . . then for some _stupid_ , _weird_ , _unfathomable_ reason. . . his eyes drew to Ashlyn as she glomped the boy and kissed him. Sure it was just on the cheek, a victory kiss out of excitement or whatever. He'd gotten plenty of those.

It didn't bother him. _Nope. Not in the slightest_.

He was just bothered by how it totally didn't bother him even though it might just be bothering him a . . . _little bit._

He groaned and tossed the remote of the t.v. back on the coffee table. _Face it Cole, your an idiot._ He never thought about it before, but the times and touches he and Ash had . . . maybe he had taken them for granted. Never once had the thought of her kissing another guy, even friendly like, had crossed his mind.

He never really stopped to think . . . what he and Ash had. Because it had been so effortless, so natural, that is slipped past them both. And he felt stupid for not realizing before, they never said anything out loud to make it official.

 _Was it a game? All just a waste of time game?_ No, he couldn't picture Ash being the user type of girl. Especially since they'd known each other _forever._

Maybe he was just being an idiot. Jealousy wasn't his thing, he never had a reason to be jealous and he sure as heck wasn't going to start being jealous because of Jay. _That would be ridicules._

But he was younger. Closer to her age, new . . . closer to her height too. maybe built better for her.

He bit his lip. What did he have over that? Taller than her, _way taller_ , bigger built then lanky Jay who couldn't easily crush her, darker in colors over all. A little on the rough edged side. Plus he'd known her forever . . . maybe she was looking for a new face.

 _Cut it out Cole, your reading way to much into something that holds no importance whatsoever._ He reprimanded himself for being and thinking like an idiot. _Just call Ash up and ask_. _No big deal, you guys tell each other basically everything._

 _She's your best friend._

With his mind made up the dark haired boy leaned over and reached for his phone. Thankful his dad was out of town for the weekend on one of his tours.

He pressed her number, speed dialed, and waited for the ringing to stop.

1 second.

2...

3...

" _Hey Cole, What's up_?" Her voice rang through, relaxing him instantly.

He leaned back into the couch, "Nothin' where are you at?" He asked, detecting loud music in the back ground. The dance came to his mind. He wondered if she had been asked and hadn't told him.

"My room. My idiotic brother's having one of his Damn parties downstairs, I'm about to call the cops on him and those freaks he has for friends." She cursed angrily, "I hate it when dad's out of town." Her tone softened as she confided in him.

Cole hated that too. Ashlyn's brother was such a big freak, he'd hurt her since Cole could remember. The guy was heartless for some reason, and Cole could never wrap his head around how she'd grown up with him.

"Listen Ash, come over. My dad's out too, so you don't have to worry about him making thing awkward. Plus . . . I'd feel, better if you were here with me, safe." He finished slowly, He had every right to say that. Some of the things Ash had told him about her brother. . . they scared the crap out of him. To think how she survived was heart wrenching.

At first she refused to give in to his concern, but eventually she realized it was better then getting beaten or nearly killed. So she accepted it and liked it too.

"I'll sneak out of my window. Be there in ten." She confirmed before hanging up.

Cole let out a breath. _Ok so that wasn't what he meant to tell her_ , but he figured it was better up close and face to face anyway. Besides, this was Ashlyn. His best friend since forever.

 _He had nothing to be upset or worried about._

* * *

Pixal felt as if she was on cloud nine. She and Zane had spent most of the part talking, but dancing had been nice too. And now he was escorting her to his home for a cup of tea or something. She couldn't remember what it was. She was just happy she was with him.

She never thought a tall, handsome, ingenious boy would even take a mild interest in her. She was odd, awkward, and aside from hanging out with Nya and occasionally Cole, very antisocial.

"Here we are." Zane smiled and pushed open the door.

Pixal smiled back, a little reserved maybe, but she didn't want to come off as eager, "Thank you."

"Father! I'm home!"

The silver haired girl smiled again as an elderly man in pair of magnifying glasses that made his eyes comically huge walked in, he had an odd contraption in his hands, "Zane! There you are, look I've just about finished you Falcon and-whose this lovely young lady?" He took of his glasses as he turned towards her.

"Father, this is Pixal. You know, Cyrus's daughter." He held out his hand and pulled her closer, "I invited her over for some refreshment."

The old man smiled, his eyes wrinkled warmly, "That's fine then, but I hope your father doesn't think my son has kidnapped you at such a late hour."

Pixal fought down a blush, "N-no sir. He's aware of my current location."

"Good. Well, feel free to feel comfortable." The elderly man smiled again, "I'm going to get back to work, good night to the both of you." Then he started to hum as he turned to go back into the room he came out of.

"Your father's nice." Pixal smiled gently.

The young man next to her nodded, "A little strange to some, but, I wouldn't trade him for the world." Suddenly, Pixal noticed a slightly fidgety look cross his face, "Um, Pixal. I didn't just ask you here for tea um . . .' For once he seemed to not know what to say.

"Yes?" She prodded gently.

"I have . . . this project. And given how smart you are in computer work, I feel perhaps you can help me with it. I don't want to ask my father because that would defeat my purpose, would you . . . like to see it?"

A strange flutter passed through her. _Work on a project . . . with Zane! That was a dream come true_.

"Certainly. Where is it?" She accepted gladly.

"In my lab. But you mustn't tell anyone. All right?" His icy blue eyes begged for her secrecy.

Pixal nodded, slightly flattered that he'd hold her high enough to tell her something of this level of importance, "I promise."

He smiled now, and took her hand, "Come then. To my lab!" With an uncharacteristically excited hop he started off, Pixal right behind him.

* * *

It wasn't too hard. She'd done it a hundred times before. With carful movements she swung herself out through the window and reached floor the old oak that conveniently grew on that side. Two seconds and she had easily slipped down on the floor. Ash let out an annoyed sigh.

The music from her brothers 'party' could even be heard from outside. She wondered if the neighbors heard it and if somebody would call the police.

Or maybe they were so used to it that nobody bothered paying attention anymore.

The young girl shook her head. _And they say younger siblings are the irresponsible ones_. With a quick tug at her hood, she slipped it on and made her way down the crispy leave littered street.

Cole would make her feel better. _He always did_. Her thoughts drifted towards the past events of the day. She had felt great after that win. Jay proved to be helpful after all. Though she thought he was an idiot for nearly killing himself. But he didn't die and they had won. They'd move on to Finals and she wondered . . . _maybe Jay could join the team permanently._ _Try outs were Tuesday, plus Seth was moving so that meant they'd be one trained player short._

Jay could get in easy. Garmadon had thought he had a talent for the sport. She did too, even Zane had mentioned something like that. Only with bigger more elaborate words.

With a quick smile to herself, she maneuvered across the dark street. Street lights flickered above, the wind picked up a little bringing that smokey autumn smell with it. She took a deep breath, trying to relax.

 _It had been a pretty good day_.

Except when she'd came home after the teams celebrating. She shuddered. Trying to get inside had been a mistake. One her ' _dear_ ' brother didn't take well. With a slight twitch her pale fingers brushed the bruise she probably had on her face now.

She always got marks like these, or worse. But it was easy to conceal, Dragon riding accident. _That's it_. Everyone believed that. Even Cole had for a while. But then he started looking at a closer picture.

He'd found out eventually. The dark haired girl smiled softly, then he'd _flipped_ out.

Ever since then he refused to let a new mark that he didn't know about go by unnoticed.

 _Speak of the dork_. She looked up at the large house. They used to have lots of fun running around playing a two person band across those heavy polished floors. At least until Lou had caught them.

With a quick hop up the short flight of steps Ash knocked on the door the way she always did. Three raps in the middle one higher. She couldn't remember when they had made up this secret code of sorts. But she remembered that it had subconsciously stuck with them.

"Come in Ash." Cole's voice rang out.

The girl smiled and pushed the oak door open to let herself in, "Hey Cole. You look comfortable." She mused unzipping her hoodie.

The older boy flashed her a smile, '"Right. Cuz a broken leg counts as being comfortable." He teased.

Ashlyn rolled her amethyst colored eyes, and plopped down on his comfortable high class vintage couch, "Soooo, how's things." She drawled while poking him to hand her the bowl off chips he had.

Cole just shrugged, "Ok. Boring really . . . how bout you?"

Now she rolled her eyes again, "Cut that out Cole. I know something's bugging you. Why else would you call then not tell me why you called. So," She bit into a chip, "Make it easy on yourself and spit it out already." Her eyes drifted to the muted T.v, as she slid back against the couch comfortably.

To her surprise, Cole actually stiffened at her words. _Dang_. _Something was definitely wrong._ She put the bowl down and turned to him, "Cole?"

He seemed to be snapped out of a though when he started and looked at her, "Hmmm?" His reply was less than reassuring.

"What's wrong? Seriously." She demanded, pushing her hair away from her face. Her eyes searching his for a hint or something like they always did when their was a problem.

He looked back.

 _Silence._

Ashlyn felt a weird feeling creep up her spine. _This wasn't normal. It was starting to be awkward. They were never awkward!_

"Cole?" She trailed off quietly slipping a hand under his thick bangs and pushed them back, "What is it?" Her hand trailed to the back of his head before it finally rested on the nap of his neck. He still didn't say anything. Now she really was worried, "Come on, say something." She pressed their foreheads together, and pushed harder as if to get him to respond.

"I'm sorry Ash. I'm being an idiot." He pulled away, looking like he could kick himself.

"Well tell me why at least."

He let out a sigh, "Honsetly it really is stupid. I have the dumbest train of thought sometimes."

She let out an exasperated huff, "Aaaaand..." Waving her hand to continue.

He let out a short laugh and took her hand in his before literally pulling her on his lap, "I was just over analyzing you and Jay. For some reason that kiss you gave him . . . bugged me?" He wasn't sure if that was the right words, she could tell.

That's when the light turned on in her previously confused face, "Ooooooh. That." She realized she had indeed done that, "Um , I-it was the excitement of the moment I guess, but . . . why would you let it bug you so much it's not like-"

"I know!" He cut her off and brought her fingers to his lips, "I know it's not. But . . . maybe it should be. Otherwise I mighty really be stupid."

Her heart flipped slightly when he kissed her fingers. She was used to Cole. Cole's laughs, Coles touches, Coles teases. But . . . there was something different about Cole right now. . . and it was actually giving her more butterflies than she ever had. She liked it.

"So, um, what exactly are you saying here?" Her purple eyes searched his face for confirmation of what she thought he was saying.

"I'm saying Ash," He kissed her wrist, actually making her shiver pleasantly, "That maybe we've gone on long enough to make this, whatever it is, space is needed for friendship, which we don't do, but we don't close it all the way either so . . .yah, whatever. What I mean is maybe if you really don't think about any other guy, we either seal the deal or you start dating, because I don't want you to feel like I'm tying you down and you don't get the perks that come with it."

Ashlyns heart flipped. She never put much thought into this. It was weird now that she did think about it. She never went anywhere with anyone except Cole, or Zane and Jay now. But Cole had always been there. Always, sort of natural for him to be there. It wasn't like anything would change if she did 'seal the deal' as he put it. They were already pretty intimate. She was sitting on his lap for crying out loud!

"I'm not really sure anything will change though." She said out loud as Cole started placing small kisses on her forearm, making her tingle when ever he did.

"Exactly, we're already pretty far gone. It'll just make my stupid thoughts of uncertainty . . .go away." His eyes clicked to hers. Catching her breath. They were asking her. Cole was asking her. Did she want him or not.

The girl let out a small sigh, then laughed, "Cole . . . you're an idiot."

That's all he needed to hear surprisingly, before his lips found their way to hers. Ashlyn's entire body melted against his instantly, either from shock or the zap of shivers that when through her or probably both. The kiss was soft and rough at the same time, just like him.

She couldn't think right now.

Cole was kissing her. That's all that register in her brain. Her heart sped up a thousand miles a minute, as she grabbed onto his shirt and pulled him closer, adjusting herself so she was straddling him instead. He'd responded by pulling her closer, both melted into a timeless abyss that was only them and their kiss.

Ashlyn was _extremely_ glad she decided to come over.

* * *

Jay smiled at himself. His ceiling smiled back. He still had the applause ringing out in his ears. It had felt incredible, he still felt it. The shock, the adrenaline, the pure excitement. How he had finally done something _awesome._

He'd come home practically singing. Of course he turned it down a notch so his parents wouldn't notice.

Now he was laying in his bed, in the dark, letting today's scene replay in his head He was pretty sure this was one of the best days he'd ever had. And considering that he didn't have many of those, it was saying something.

" _Jay your awesome!"_ He smiled as he remembered Ashlyns words, she had been so happy it was ridicules how she'd practically glowed at him.

Everyone was proud of him. It sent a warm feeling through his heart. He liked being a winner instead of a loser. He smiled wider, I _bet tomorrow it'll be different. I'm not gonna be a loser tomorrow_. _Maybe never again._

He sighed and let himself drift off. But for some reason, as his controlled thoughts slipped into subconscious thoughts he had a nagging feeling in his head right before sleep overtook him.

 _Had he forgotten something_? He yawned, _Nah, I probably just forgot to do a chore or something._

It was fine. He'd apologize to Mom in the morning and do whatever it was double times.

Nothing was going to bring him down, because tomorrow _, he was going to wake up a hero..._

* * *

 ** _Don't foget! Ten small reviews is all I ask! Unless you all give me more, that would be swell!_**

 ** _Love Ya'll_**


	19. Chapter 19

**_a/n) Ok, I am super sorry this story has been paused for so long. But you know how life is. Especially when your dying to write, something throws itself at you to stop you._**

 ** _It's not long. But I hope it gets us to the next part._**

 ** _Enjoy!_**

 ** _Review to let me know I haven't been forgotten! Love Ya'll_**

* * *

 ** _Just feel the burst, you feel it!_**

 ** _Just hear the words, you hear it?_**

 ** _You know, we know, it's the way you go, go, go!_**

 ** _Your a he-ro, ro, ro!_**

 ** _Oh_** ** _wh'oa,_** ** _whoa, !_**

Jay tapped his feet to his song. His ear buds plugged in as he twisted and maneuvered across the sidewalk, ignoring all the strange stares he received.

He woken up that morning feeling awesome, and nothing was gonna bring it down. He'd finally done something right! People weren't going to think he was a loser anymore!

"Hey Jay! Sick moves man!" Somebody called.

Jay pulled out an ear bud and smirked, striding into the hallway, his shoulders thrown back, his hair swept away from his forehead as he walked confidently.

"Hi Jay!"

"Are you a permanent Dragon racer now?"

"Can I have your autograph!"

Yep. This was awesome!

"Sorry guys!" He called cheekily, getting ahead of himself, "But I've got class to get to!"

His heart flipped in excitement at the collective disappointed groans that followed behind him.

"Man, I feel good!"

He smashed into something around the next corner. This, in turn, knocked the good feelings right out of him. Especially when said smashed into object grabbed his shirt front and lifted him up. His bright blue eyes, now fearful, connected with a fierce glare of amber.

 _Crap._

 _Good feelings gone._

"You. What do you think this is? A game?" Kai hissed at the squirming freshman, venom dripping out of his words.

"I, um. . . wh-what?" Jay was genuinely confused now. He'd been avoiding Kai very well lately. Why was he angry at him now? Jay hadn't even done anything to him!

"Is this what you do for a living?" A snarky remark flew at them as a red haired girl sauntered past.

Jay swallowed hard and blinked when Kai's grip slackened. He noticed the older boys eyes followed the red head intensly. Hmmm, interesting. . . _Wait No! Not interesting, your about to be strangled for reasons unknown! Focus!_

"No, He's the only one that deserves this." Kai snapped back.

The girl turned around before reaching the corner and tilted her stance so her hip jutted out. Jay noticed, she was actually pretty hot.

Her red brow rose, "Oh really? Didn't he win the last dragon race? I'm pretty sure everyone loves him for it? Jealous?"

Kai instantly let go of the younger boy and stomped toward the girl. Jay didn't know what he was going to do, he didn't care. Mouthing a silent _'thank you'_ to red, he turned heel and ran like his feet were on fire.

Kai had that effect on him.

The next second made him wish he'd stayed back there and gotten beat up instead.

He ran straight into Nya, Pixal was next to her, patting the girls back. Both girls froze when he backed up hurriedly.

Jay gasped for breath, "Oh Nya, sorry I didn't-"

"Sorry!" The girl exploded in his face suddenly, looking as vicious as her brother. Jay stumbled back. _What was going on!?_

"I can't believe you! At first I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt but then I see _this_ video!" She shoved the phone she was holding in his face. Jay saw yesterday's race playing. He was being lifted and cheered for.

 _Why was she upset? Shouldn't she be happy I won? What was wrong with-_

Then he noticed the continuing flow of tears. His heart clenched. _Why was she crying?_

Pixal shook her head sadly at him, looking somewhat disappointed, as Nya started to sob and turned away.

"N-nya?!" He was still lost, and growing increasingly worried now too.

"Forget it!" She hiccupped, "Kai was right, you _are_ a moron." The dark haired girl yelled angrily through tears. Jay thought for a moment she would slap him. But she deflated as quickly as she rose, her face crumbled up, her eyes shone with tears. Jay felt really, afraid at the moment. What could he have done to break Nya into tears? He couldn't fathom any reason. His brain whirled trying to figure what horrible thing he'd done.

He stared breathlessly as she was guided away from him by her friend, her small back hunched over as she tried to hide her tears.

Tears for what! He wanted to follow her and ask, to apologize for . . . something. He didn't even know what! He was ready to pull his hair out! _What did I do wrong! I won a race! So what! What in the heck is the big deal I-_ His thoughts screeched to a halt.

His jaw went slack. His eyes widened. His stomached flipped and churned. Heat rose all over his body. He felt like throwing up.

It hit him like a brick in the head. . .

 _Oh. Crap._

* * *

". . . And then she goes all crazy banshee on me and I still had no idea why! But then I realized it and now I feel like a complete jerk wad, she's gonna hate me forever! Crap, the one girl I liked and I ruin any chance I had with her! After all of this how can I call my self anything but a complete and utter loser!" Jay had been ranting for half an hour, pacing back and forth in the dragon stables, pulling at his hair, punching things, all in all completely frustrated and hating himself.

Zane nodded slowly, his eye on the rein he had in his hand, he'd been listening the entire time. But if he was honest, he didn't really understand why Jay was so upset. _So he forgot something_. Granted it probably didn't feel good to the girl to be stood up because of Jay's lack of memory, but still. Zane didn't understand why he didn't just talk and explain to her.

He'd said as much.

Jay just gave him a surprisingly scary glare.

"Do you know _nothing_ about girls?" The blue eyed dork nearly shrieked, "You can't just _explain_ that you _forgot_ them! That would be really, really, _really_ bad."

Zane still didn't understand.

Jay let out a breath that seemed to come from his toes, "Why does the world hate me? I never hurt anyone." His eyes started to blur suddenly.

Zane sensed an emotional overload. He did not relish in the idea of having a crying fifteen year old boy on his shoulder.

"The world doesn't hate you Jay." Zane put a firm hand on the younger boys shoulder.

Jay hung his head, his shoulders slumping, he sniffed and whipped his nose,"Yah. Sure. Whatever." He brushed Zane off.

The white clad boy sighed, "Jay, if everyone hated you then why is Kai the only one that's beating on you?"

Jay shrugged, "I said world, somebody thought the world needed more misery and I'm the punch line."

"Your being ridicules-"

"I'll tell you what's ridicules!" Ashlyn burst into the stable suddenly, cutting off the boys, her hair wild, her eyes practically glowing, a phone was clenched in her fist, "This!" She shoved the object against Jay's chest as if it was disgusting to touch.

A video was playing, Zane huddled next to Jay to watch. Both their expressions fell.

Jay forgot about being miserable. Now he colored pink in embarrassment.

Zane went stock still.

"You . . . and Jay?" He looked at the fuming petit girl, "How did they get that?" For once, the brilliant boy was stumped.

Ashlyn growled in frustration, "I just gave him one stupid little kiss! On the Cheek! And it was from excitement, victory! I was proud of him! You know, nothing else! We're friends, what do these annoying gossips get out of over doing this!"

"D-did . . . has, C-cole seen this?" Jay suddenly had a horrible image of the older, taller, and much, MUCH, stronger boy beating him up.

Ashlyn looked at him for a minute, "Yes. He has. And he's taking it pretty well. Why?"

Jay breathed out, "No reason, I was just worried he'd think I stole his girl . . . um . . .oops?" He colored brighter, "I wasn't supposed to. . . I mean, I didn't-"

"Don't sweat it Jay. Cole and I've worked it out. We're an actual set now." She seemed to lighten instantly, her eyes, that were hard one moment ago, glazed over into a dreamy soft state.

Jay did a double take. _Ashlyn? Going all mushy? That was new. Wait . . . a set? As in_ . . ., "So this could just shut all those idiots up, right?" He looked hopeful.

By now he began to realize that this must have been what made Nya even more angry and hurt at him. That explained, what he thought was, her over reaction. But if Ash and Cole were a pair now . . . then maybe that would be the evidence he needed to clear his name and make Nya possibly not hate him. Yah . . .that could be what he needed!

Zane shook his head, "They'll probably find a way to twist things. Gossips are made for that. It's sad how they actually enjoy the confusion and hurt they bring."

Jay swallowed, ignoring his thumping heart, "Ash, I need you to help me straighten something out. It will fix this too. I hope. But I need you and Cole to help and be proof."

The petite girl tilted her head curiously, "What are you talking about?"

The blue eyed boy shifted, "I messed something up. Bad. And that video made it worse," He explained slowly and huddled closer, "Just . . .just hear me out."


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N) Ok Here's yet another chapter of my story! And I can NOT believe I have 80 reviews on it! I just can't! When I started this story I didn't expect to get much on it. But you guys gave me way over what I could have hoped for. I've never gotten so much notice on one story before! You're all so amazing and I want to thank each and every one of you. For every nice word and encouragement you've given me.**

 **I hope my story lives up to your expectations all the way.**

 **Thanks so much.**

 **P.s. Anyone catch the latest Ninjago episodes? I'm literally freaking out. PM me and we'll have a conversation about them, if you've seen 'em anyway!**

* * *

Jay shifted nervously from foot to foot. He had explained to Ashlyn what he wanted to do. She'd looked at him funny and called him a ' _dork'_ but agreed nonetheless.

He swallowed hard as he made his way to the junk yard. The blue eyed boy's head was whirling with thoughts, of what could and probably would go wrong. Heck, he wasn't even sure he could talk to Nya at all! He wanted to. So badly. But he was afraid. But he _had_ to to fix this mess. But she wouldn't answer her phone.

Unfortunately the only way that would get him even close to her was the suicides way.

Go to her actual house and face running into her _terrifying_ brother.

Jay wasn't _that_ crazy.

 _Was he?_

Ok, so he was still debating on going. He actually was planning a way to get there and get _out_ with as little pain as possible. Ashlyn had given him something else to think about now though.

'T _o keep depression at bay'_ she said.

The try out's for the team were tomorrow and he wasn't sure if would do it.

His Mom and Dad still had no idea that he'd ridden dragons. He was pretty sure they'd flip and refuse to let him out of the house ever again.

But he wanted to do it. So _Badly_. The feeling you get from riding on a huge creature in the sky was too amazing to never do again.

But his parents wouldn't ever allow it if he told them.

Jay guiltily decided he wasn't _going_ to tell them.

" _After school activity._ " That was his excuse, he wanted to be an official Dragon Racer.

He already probably lost Nya forever. Dragon Racing wasn't going to be closed off too.

He bit his lip as the trailer loomed in his vision.

"Hi Hon! How was school?"

Jay swallowed, "Erm, uh, great!

 _I'm gonna be a Dragon Racer tomorrow._

 _And maybe live to talk to Nya._

Jay decided he might be stretching his goals too high on that one.

* * *

It wasn't like he was stalking her. _Nope, Nuh-uh. Just um_ . . . merely _observing_ where she lived. _Yah that's it, that sounded less creepy._

Well, it wasn't his fault she was so damn closed off and he found her unbelievably attracting.

Kai muttered under his breath as he hide behind a thick tree. His eyes trailing on the salty red head as she walked further and further into the more nasty part of Ninjago City. He'd wondered more than once by now why she'd live in such a rotten place.

It only made her more interesting to him.

Finally, after a good 20 minute walk she stopped, flipped her fiery hair over her shoulder and walked into one of the worse off houses. It seemed to be bending under its own weight, and creaked dangerously when she slammed the door.

Kai swallowed thickly and gingerly stepped up to the house. _What the heck is this_? His amber eye narrowed as he noticed her silhouette inside. There was someone else in the house. Kai gaped when he saw the taller silhouette coil back and literally _punch_ the girl. Her body flew out of Kai's view.

He almost bolted in there to demand to know what the _hell_! He was a bully, true, a regular jerk. But only dealt out physical assault to other _guys_. He'd never touched a girl like that. His mother would have _killed_ him.

 _If she was still alive._

He shook out the thought as Skylar came out of the house, head down, slightly wobbly, and her hood pulled over her face.

Kai swallowed, she was probably trying to hide where ever that guy had hit her. He felt his blood boil, his temper slipping out of control. But he couldn't do anything. She barley even tolerated him. _What would she think and do if she knew I followed her home._

He ran a hand through his spikes, "Let's she what she does after school." He whispered to himself and proceeded and following her down the cracked sidewalk.

* * *

Skylar _knew_ he was there.

She saw him. She just didn't feel like letting him know she knew at the moment. Besides she wasn't all to sure he'd been following her. After all, being in the same place didn't mean he was stalking her. Something in her gut bubbled otherwise.

But she wasn't going to admit that she kind of, _maybe_ , might just like the guy . . . _only a little_. She couldn't let him know that though, _it would boost his ego to infinity_. She scoffed, her bright green eyes trailed on him as he stupidly tried to cover up his face with an old magazine. She almost laughed.

Truth be told, she had way to many problems to let anyone get close to her. She didn't _need_ anymore.

"Can I get a lemonade?"

His voice caught her off guard as she looked up from the counter she was polishing in surprise. She saw him standing there with an attempt at a passive look on his face. Like he hadn't been there the _entire_ time.

"Sure." She turned to go make it.

 _Nobody could ever get near her like that._

"Don't forget the curly straw."

She bit back a smile.

 _Maybe if anyone could . . . this guy would._

* * *

"Here, connect the circuit board." Zane was instructing Pixal on an early Tuesday morning.

They were inside his lab _slash_ room working on Zane's top secret project. Pixal found she couldn't wait until after school so she ran over at least two hours before. The project was to interesting to keep away from and she still didn't really know what Zane planned to do with it. But she was sure it would be brilliant.

"There. Connected." She smiled softly and pushed some stray silver hair out of her face, "How long to you suppose this will take until full completion Zane?"

Zane didn't answer. Pixal turned to see why and found him staring at her in a dazed way. She colored slightly.

"Um... Zane?"

"Huh? Oh, um, until completion, I believe with your assistance it will be done much sooner then I had thought." He smiled at her and pushed back with his feet, rolling backwards in his wheel chair.

Pixal bit her lip as she watched him stretch and turn towards his drawers. She glanced at the clock and saw it was nearly time to go. The silver haired girl fought back a disappointed groan and turned back to Zane, he was busy deciding between two shirts. One was white, the other was . . . white.

She almost laughed at his adorably concentrating face.

"Zane? If you don't mind my asking. What is it that you plan to do with this project once you've finished it?"

Zane picked the white shirt on the left, "Well I plan to get it into mass production in my first year of collage. But first I need some recognition. So if it turns out right I'm going to take it to the Ninjago City Science for Tomorrow competition. It's one of the biggest competitions out there and if I win I can get it patent."

"Oh." Pixal felt a strange feeling of sadness mixed with happiness for him come over her. Sad, because he planned to leave so soon. Happy, because he would accomplish something amazing.

Her slightly mixed emotions weren't lost on Zane, "Don't worry Pixal," He bent to take her hand, "Maybe, if we plan this right," His icy blue eyes connected to hers slowly, "You could come with me."

Pixal forgot how to breath.

"Me? Go with you?" She could hardly compute this idea, "I . . . that would be an honor Zane."

They smiled at each other, warmth surrounding them, both forgetting school would start in less than half an hour.

* * *

Jay _hated_ this. The suspense was going to _kill_ him! He waited and waited for that dumb bell to ring. _Why wouldn't it ring!_ He swore somebody had stopped time. _I need to get out of here!_ He was in the same science class with Nya and she hadn't looked his way once. He felt the ice cold shoulder she was giving him from across the room.

 _I need to get out of here now! Ring dang it!_ He felt the roof was caving in, breathing was becoming harder, spots were surrounding his eyes, the teachers voice droned on unbearably in his ears. He was going to _die!_

 **Riiiiing!**

The first one out that door was Jay.

* * *

"Took you long enough." Ashlyn jabbed as Jay practically burst into the Dragon stalls. His blue eyes were darting frantically, his hair a mess. he looked like he'd been running from a monster or something.

"Um. Jay? You ok?" The dark haired girl asked, narrowing her eyes as she studied him.

"Yeah, yeah. Just um, I thought school wouldn't end. _Ever_!" He looked terrified.

Ashlyn almost laughed. _Almost_. She would have if he hadn't looked so seriously afraid, "Well, it has so . .. um, try out's are gonna start in five, here's Wisp, you wanna ride her right?"

The blue eyed boy nodded, his demeanor more calm now after a few deep breaths.

"Great. Go on now, Garmadon expects your best so give it to him." She paused for a thoughtful moment, "And don't crash, chances are you won't get up like last time."

The boy practically turned pink in embarrassment, "I don't plan to. Crash that is."

She chuckled and punched his shoulder playfully, "Go get 'em Hero."

She saw him straighten in confidence now, grasp the reins and march out into the field to show off his stuff. Ashlyn admired him for that. And to think, the first time she met him she thought he was a hopeless wimp. Maybe he had tougher stuff in him after all. It just took the need for it to bring it out.

The horn blared catching the girls attention. She quickly closed the gates and ran off to the bleachers to watch the try out's. there were at least four boys trying out this semester. Ashlyn was a little disappointed no girls would try out. _Oh well. One could always hope right?_

"Hey Ash." Cole called her from his seat where he had his bound leg up. She almost skipped to him but restrained herself for reputation reasons.

"Hey." She smiled at him before sitting down.

Cole grinned, "I saw Jay. He's really doing this huh?"

"Yep."

"He looked yellow. You sure he's ok?"

Ashlyn looked confused for a minute, "Nerves Cole. He told me he was ready though."

She turned her amethyst colored eyes towards the field. The wannabe racers lined up. Start off, the maneuver race.

She hoped Jay knew that.

* * *

 _In, out, In. Out. In. Out._ Jay steadied his breathing. He was the smallest racer there, it made him feel insignificant. and pushed him more towards hyperventilation mode. Plus, it didn't help that his parents knew nothing about this. What if he got killed doing this? How would they feel when someone told them? O _h hey Mr. and Mrs. Walker? Yeah, you know your son, Jay the moron? Yeah, he got killed trying to fly a dragon!_

 _Oh God,_ he felt his stomach twist. _Don't not puke, do not puke, do not puke_. _Do NOT puke_! His heart stabbed in his rib cage, his body was rigid, he was sure he looked like wreck. Garmadon was studying each racer. The others looked cool and confidant. He felt like a mess.

"Go!"

Jay felt his heart lurched into his stomach. _Come on, Come ON! You've done this before, what the heck's wrong with you!_

He snapped the reins. Wisp took off. He was airborne once again, and that awesome feeling that replaced all else filled him up. Fear vanished, Jay let out a whoop and pulled the reins to make his dragon go higher. He felt his insides untwist and let him feel amazing.

Wisp turned easily where he wanted her, he even managed to make her do a few air rolls. He forgot he was in a try out and flew in a free pattern. His mind cleared as they went higher, flashing through the clouds, dew drops clung to him, cooling his face. Then, with one snap they were plunging straight down. Jay felt his stomach stay up. He whooped on pure excitement.

Wisp flew faster then pulled up from the ground last second, whipping over the finish line. Jay grinned like crazy as he deftly slowed his dragon to a stop.

 _It never got any less awesome._

"You did it!"

He saw Ashlyn jumped over the bleacher rail and run towards him, Cole and now Zane, came right after her.

"You were awesome!" Ashlyn threw her arms around him and squeezed, knocking the air out of the boys lungs.

"Th-thanks Ash." He felt his face turn purple, "Can't. Breath!"

"Oops." She let him go.

"Thanks." He wheezed.

They all laughed. Jay's smiled, he felt _really_ good. Much better than he had all day. That is he did, until his blue eyes landed on a figure in the corner behind them.

Jay's heart stopped. His ears zoned everything out as he stared in shock at Nya's hurt look. She was there! He wanted to talk to her. He felt his heart rip when she gave him a disappointed shake of her head.

Then she turned and walked away. Jay wanted to yell after her. _Wait, don't go! PLEASE! It's not what you think! I need to talk to you._ He did none of those. He just stood there and watched her go. Possibly go out of his life for good.

"Did you hear that!" Cole was saying excitedly.

Jay blinked, "What?" His word came out slowly and without much effort.

"You did it Jay!" Ashlyn was practically bouncing on her toes, "Your a Dragon Racer!"

Why didn't that sent a zap of excitement through him like he thought it would. In fact he didn't feel anything.

He was numb all over. No wait, _something_ , he felt something. His heart hurt.

 _I'm a Dragon Racer._ He thought slowly. _I should be happy with that at least._

 _So why did it hurt instead?_


End file.
